Indian village of 2,000 families includes 220 sets of twins

A tiny village in southern India boasts a set of twins for around every 10 families. The doctors are puzzled by this phenomenon.

The village of Kodinhi is situated in Kerala, the southern part of India. It only has 2,000 families but has more than 220 sets of twins. In the last five years 60 pairs of twins have been born and the rate is increasing every year. In 2008, 15 pairs of twins were born out of 300 deliveries. The locals expect the number of twins born to be even higher this year. Dr. Krishnan Sribiju is one of the doctors puzzled by this phenomenon. He has been trying to find the main reasons for it for the past two years. Dr. Sribiju thinks the number of twins in the vicinity of Kodinhi is much more than what is recorded. Dr. Sribiju told Telegraph:

In my medical opinion there are around 300 to 350 twins within the village boundaries of Kodinhi...What is fascinating is the increasing numbers of twins with each passing year, so much so that I feel in the past ten years the number of twins in Kodinhi has doubled.

The villagers say the “twin phenomenon” started only three generations ago. Dr. Sribiju and others are trying to find the secrets behind this phenomenon. Dr. Sribiju added:

Without access to detailed biochemical analysis equipment I cannot say for certain what the reason for the twinning is, but I feel that it is something to do with what the villagers eat and drink.

"If that is the case then maybe whatever is causing this exceptional level of twinning can be bottled and provide help for infertile couples.

Dr. Sribiju said “twins” are very rare in the Asian sub-continent, the rates are usually four per 1,000 births. In the village’s case, it is 45 per 1,000 births. Another mystery is that the villagers don’t use any artificial insemination techniques (IVF) because of their prohibitive costs, according to Dr. Sribiju.