Erythroblastosis fetalis or hemolytic disease of the newborn occurs due to the incompatibility of the Rh Factor in the blood of the mother and the baby.
Erythroblastosis manifests itself during pregnancy in Rh- women, generating Rh+ offspring. It can cause the baby's death during pregnancy or after birth.
How does erythroblastosis occur?
A couple whose mother has Rh- (rr) and father Rh+ (R_) are likely to have a child with Rh+ (R_).
During the first pregnancy the baby will not be affected. However, the contact of the mother's and the baby's blood at the time of delivery causes the mother's body to receive the child's red blood cells and start producing anti-Rh antibodies.
Thus, in a second pregnancy, if the baby is Rh+, the maternal organism has an anti-Rh antibody. It is in the second pregnancy that the baby may have erythroblastosis.
During pregnancy and at the time of delivery, the anti-Rh antibodies present in the mother's blood cross the placenta and promote the agglutination of the fetus' red blood cells.
This is because the baby's Rh+ is seen as a "foreign agent" in the mother's organism.
The baby who is born with erythroblastosis presents anemia and jaundice. You can still have mental retardation, deafness and cerebral palsy.
The child's treatment consists of exchanging his blood for Rh- blood.
How to prevent erythroblastosis?
To prevent erythroblastosis, the woman must take a serum containing anti-Rh to destroy the child's red blood cells that have entered her body. This prevents the mother from being sensitized.
In this case, the woman can become pregnant again without risk to the fetus, even though it is Rh+.
Learn more, read also:
ABO System and Rh Factor
Blood Types
