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Eastern Cape health officials have urged expectant mothers to seek pre-natal care and avoid medication and traditional cures as a third baby in two months was born last week with severe physical deformities.
Health Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo says a baby girl was born on Thursday with no legs and arms.
He said her hands and feet were attached directly to her torso and she had died within hours of her birth.
Kupelo said this was the third incident of a baby being born with severe deformities in the Transkei area.
More than 50 such babies have been born in the past two years - many of them as conjoined twins.
He said it was a concern to the department and especially since these are concentrated in the area of the Transkei.
He urged pregnant women to stop taking over-the-counter drugs and traditional remedies and to take care in their first weeks of pregnancy.
