₦airaland Forum

*First in West Africa, 5,001st in the world

By Sola Ogundipe

LAGOS — Nigeria has recorded the first successful birth of a baby conceived from frozen egg of a 44-year-old woman, who had suffered infertility for eight years, making it the first in the country and West Africa.

The birth and conception of the baby, named Tiwatope, which is the 5001st in the world, were carried out by Nigerian fertility specialists at The Bridge Clinic, a Lagos-based fertility treatment centre, where the mother had her eggs frozen using the vitrification (flash-freezing) process.

Announcing the medical milestone, a fertility physician at the Bridge Clinic, Lagos, Dr Emmanuel Owie, said the birth of the baby on February 16, 2016, effectively puts Nigeria on the global map as regards the practice of oocyte (egg) freezing or cryopreservation, a new offering in the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) space.

He said prior to the birth of Tiwatope, the new practice seemed to be an exclusive preserve of the developed world of Europe and North America.

He said: “Tiwatope’s mother had her eggs frozen for two months, using the vitrification, also known as flash-freezing, process. This is the cutting edge technology in cryobiology, where the eggs or oocytes of a woman is dehydrated and the water content is replaced with ‘anti-freeze’ solution (cryoprotectants) before freezing. This will prevent the formation of ice crystals which could destroy the cell.”

On her readiness for pregnancy, Owie noted: “We fertilized the eggs using a standard technique known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to overcome the egg shell which normally gets hardened with freezing.

“The fertilized egg was subsequently transferred into her womb, resulting in the pregnancy with Tiwa. She had her antenatal care in her family hospital and delivered the baby boy through Caesarian Section.

“At The Bridge Clinic, we celebrate Tiwa’s birth as it is a further demonstration of our coming of age in the practice of assisted reproductive technology. It is a show of the sum of our strengths — our people, our process and our infrastructure. It demonstrates our commitment to global best practices which ensures that our offerings are in tandem with what is obtainable in the developed world, both in variety and in quality.”

Recommendation

Noting that the baby and his mother are in good health, Owie said egg freezing was particularly recommended for women diagnosed with cancer, who may lose their fertility during chemotherapy; women with a family history of early menopause; women with objections to storing frozen embryos for religious and/or moral reasons; and women who want to delay child-bearing in order to pursue some personal goals.

He said: “This offering is being delivered to many women in the developed world and is now being offered in Nigeria at a cost more affordable than what is obtained abroad. We encourage women who need this service to come up and have their eggs cryopreserved.”

Also speaking, Coordinator, Corporate Communications & Customer Client Relations, The Bridge Clinic, Dr Dayo Omogbehin, stated: “We are the first in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centre in Nigeria to achieve this success. It is great news for the family and fertility health research in the country and world at large.”

How it works

On how egg freezing works, Omogbehin said although sperm and embryos had proved easy to freeze, the egg was the largest cell in the human body and contains a large amount of water.

He said: “When frozen, ice crystals form that can destroy the cell. We must dehydrate the egg and replace the water with an ‘anti-freeze’ prior to freezing in order to prevent ice crystal formation.

“We also learned that because the shell of the egg hardens when frozen, sperm must be injected with a needle to fertilize the egg using a standard technique known as Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection.”

VictorRomanov:
He'll still win the election. Isn't that how Buhari won?

duketunde:
Good Afternoon lovelies, So sorry for bringing today's edition of SATURDAY DIGEST a little behind schedule. Today the 'Cannibal of Oshodi' joins our growing list of World's Most Infamous Murders at number 9.

Once upon a time in the city of Lagos, there lived a ruthless murderer who feigned madness to capture and gruesomely kill his victims under the bridge at Toyota Bus Stop along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. His name is Clifford Orji but i refer to him as the 'CANNIBAL OF OSHODI.'

Clifford's mode of operation is to act like someone who's mad and when it's late he hacked unsuspecting citizens who strayed into his dark corner under the bridge to death. He allegedly killed over 50 people in the late 90's.

After hacking his victims to death, the Cannibal of Oshodi, will drag them into his shanty built with tires and scrap metals and there he will dis-member their bodies, roast them, eat some and allegedly sell human parts to ritualist who patronize him on a regular basis.

Clifford was arrested by the Nigerian Police in February 1999, after a pregnant victim managed to escape from the serial murderer. Items found on him at the time of his arrest was a cheque for the sum of N88,000, a cell phone, women underwear and fresh and roast human flesh and bones.

His arrest was widely celebrated and was a trending headline in most African media houses then.

The Courts and Judiciary system in most African states known for prosecuting cases at a snail pace, resulted in the case not being followed diligently, though Clifford Orji was remanded in Prison at the time but no serious investigation or further arrest were made. After spending 13 years in prison without trial Mr. Orji died in his sleep on August 17, 2012. He was 46 years old when he died.
- See more at: http://www.duketundesblog.com/2016/03/saturday-digest-worlds-most-infamous-clifford-orji.html#sthash.dKA650zW.dpuf

cyprus000:
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This is what happens when there is failure of leadership.
No enabling enviroment for upcomming generation.
Africa have suffered in the hands of self-centered,asslicking,nitwitty brainscoop-lummox.

We call leader's.
This same leaders were part of UN resolution which voted for the intervention NATO in libya despit their failure in their respective countries.
They even armed rebels. getting the arms back is a problem.

Now libya is a failed state and a safe haven for. Smuggler's,illegal migrants and illegal arm dealer's(number one supplier of arms to boko haram).

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On the flipside: the said rescuers are the primariy cause of this accident.

This is not the first time,this kind of thing has happened.
They know this are desperate people striving to survive.
You don't just drive a rescue vessle to the the boat you want to rescue. Without sending crew members to co-ordinate the boat/vessle you want to rescue.
So has not to make the people disorganized and make them move to one side of the boat,which will cause it to topple.

Hypocrites..I just feel pained right now.
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