Johanna Lombard, age 17, of Missoula, Mont., for her question:

HOW OFTEN ARE QUINTUPLETS BORN?

Quintuplets are five babies born to the same mother at one time.

Scientists tell us that quintuplets are born only once out of every 85 million births.

The first quintuplets known to have lived more than a few hours after birth were the five girls born to Elzire and Oliva Dionne on May 28, 1934, near Callendar, Ontario, Canada.

The famous Dionne quintuplets have been given extensive newspaper and media coverage ever since they were born. The surviving sisters are now nearing the age of 50.

The Fischer quintuplets were the first set of quintuplets born in the United States to survive early infancy. The four girls and a boy were born to Andrew James and Mary Ann Fischer on Sept. 14, 1963.