QUINTUPLETS IN FRANCE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28399, 4 October 1957, Page 13

QUINTUPLETS IN FRANCE

Three Die In Night

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) PARIS. October 3. The three biggest of the Christofie quintuplets born at Toulon yesterday died during the night, in spite of a desperate battle by doctors who used oxygen and artificial respiration in a bid to save them. The artificial respiration was applied without taking the tiny babies—all weighing less than 41b —from the air-conditioned incubators where they were nestling in cotton wool. Philippe, who weighed 31b Iloz, the biggest and one of the strongest of the five, died 15 minutes before midnight His sister, Helene (21b lOoz) who had "died” yesterday for 30 minutes, and then was revived by artificial respiration, survived only an hour and three-quarters after Philippe. Then at 3.30 a.m. her sister, Genevieve, also died. Genevieve, the fourth of the quins to be bom, weighed 21b 14oz. The hospital said then that the condition of the other two, Michelle (21b ’loz) and Roland (21b 3oz) was unchanged. They were said to be “not doing too well." The quintuplets were bom to Mrs Laurence Christofie, aged 29, the wife of a social security worker dealing with family allowances. She is well. Mr Christofie said tonight that he and his wife had hoped for children for eight years, poctors had told his wife that she could not have children, but she refused to despair, and underwent special medical treatments. Mr Christofie said his wife was beginning to "pick up her strength.” After the birth Mrs Christofie was moved from her small room to a larger one which was soon filled with flowers. Mr Christofie said he knew of no other cases of multiple births in either his own or his wife’s family. Medical records show that quintuplets are bom once in 57m births and only rarely do all the five children live. Fewer than 50 quintuplets have been recorded in medical history and the first to survive were the Dionne quintuplets of Canada. One of the five girls died in 1954. The three girls and two boys of the Argentine millionaire, Mr Diligent!, are now 14.