LONDON (AFP) — A week-old baby girl who survived a high-risk emergency operation to separate her from her conjoined twin is now "very sick", a London hospital said Thursday.
Faith Williams was in a stable condition Wednesday, when her chances of survival were rated at 50 percent by the head of the surgical team.
She was separated from smaller sister Hope on Tuesday in an 11-hour operation. Hope died soon afterwards as her lungs were unable to support her breathing.
In a statement Thursday, the hospital said: "Faith Williams is a very sick little girl.
"Great Ormond Street Hospital is doing everything it can for her, and we continue to offer her the highest possible levels of care."
The mother of the baby girls, 18-year-old Laura Williams, is Britain's youngest-ever mother of conjoined twins. The pair were born by Caesarian section on November 26.
The sisters were joined from the breastbone to the top of the navel. They shared their blood circulation but had their own organs, though they were joined at the liver and intestines.
Doctors wanted to wait until the pair were older and stronger before attempting to separate them but felt they had to operate sooner as their health was deteriorating.
The twins together weighed 10 pounds and eight ounces at birth.
Conjoined twins occur when the single egg from which identical twins develop fails to divide properly after conception. The survival rate is low.
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