Hemolytic disease of the newborn, also known as hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, HDN, HDFN, or erythroblastosis fetalis, is an alloimmune condition that develops in a fetus, when the IgG molecules (one of the five main types of antibodies) produced by the mother pass through the placenta. Among these antibodies are some which attack the red blood cells in the fetal circulation; the red cells are broken down and the fetus can develop reticulocytosis and anemia. This fetal disease ranges from mild to very severe, and fetal death from heart failure (hydrops fetalis) can occur. When the disease is moderate or severe, many erythroblasts are present in the fetal blood and so these forms of the disease can be called erythroblastosis fetalis (or erythroblastosis foetalis).
Read more about Hemolytic Disease Of The Newborn: Symptoms, Causes, Serological Diagnoses, Diagnosis, Treatment, Complications and Similar Conditions, In Animals
Famous quotes containing the words disease and/or newborn:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
—Constitution of the World Health Organization.
“Almost everybody wore a curious limpidity of expression, like newborn babies or souls just after death. Dazed but curiously dignified.... after a crise ... of hysterical revulsion and tiredness, I passed beyond ... and became entered by a rather sublime feeling.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)