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How can Rh incompatibility lead to hemolytic disease in newborns?
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blood analysis
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Rh incompatibility leads to erythroblastosis fetalis—also known as hemolytic disease of the newborn—through an immune reaction between an Rh-negative mother and an Rh-positive fetus.123
The process typically occurs as follows:
- Sensitization: During the birth of an Rh-positive infant, fetal red blood cells carrying the Rh factor may enter the mother's bloodstream. Because the mother is Rh-negative, her immune system recognizes these cells as foreign and produces anti-Rh antibodies.1432
- Antibody Transfer: In subsequent pregnancies with an Rh-positive fetus, these maternal antibodies can cross the placenta and enter the fetal circulation.123
- Hemolysis: The antibodies attack and destroy the fetus's red blood cells, a process called hemolysis, leading to anemia and other severe complications like jaundice or heart failure.14
This condition is largely preventable by administering Rh immunoglobulin to the mother after the birth of an Rh-positive child, which destroys fetal cells before her immune system can become sensitized.145