A BABY born without a nose has stunned doctors who've never seen the birth defect before

The infant was delivered in Fallujah, Iraq, two weeks ago and is only able to breathe by sucking air through its mouth.

Medics say the newborn has microcephaly – a condition where the head is smaller than normal, usually because the brain hasn't developed properly.

It can be caused by a genetic abnormality, drug or alcohol abuse by the mother, or being exposed to a toxin or virus such as Zika during pregnancy.

Images of the newborn were published by Fallujah Birth Defects, which has been documenting congenital malformation in the city, which was heavily bombed during the Iraq war.

Rare abnormality

The organisation said it is the first time they have ever seen a case of microcephaly since setting up in 2004.

They said the child, whose gender hasn't been made public, comes from a family who live in a rural area and has three normal and healthy older siblings.

Writing in comments on Facebook, the organisation said that the nose deformity was due to a cleft lip and palate and everything else in his body was considered normal.

They added that the youngster was only able to breathe by gasping as the family had "refused" a tracheotomy, which is where a tube is inserted into the windpipe.

Similar cases

In another similar case, an American toddler was born without a nose but died in 2017 at the age of two.

Eli Thompson had no nasal passages or sinus cavities – an extremely rare condition known as congenital arhinia – which only affects one in 197 million births.

He had a tracheotomy to help him breathe at only five days old and was able to communicate through sign language.

In 2015, he got the chance to meet another child with the same condition – little Tessa Evans from Ireland who was two years old at the time.

After the pair met, Tessa's mum Grainne said: "To get to introduce Tessa to Eli was like a dream come true and it meant the world to us to sit and talk with his family."

"Tessa was totally taken with Eli and hugged him and stroked his head. Watching Eli gaze up at her was too precious for words."

Thanks to genetic research, Tessa, now six, has been diagnosed with BAM Syndrome – Bosma, arhinia, microphthalmia syndrome.

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