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erythroblastosis fetalis
(ә-rith″ro-blas-toŽsis fe-taŽlis)
a blood dyscrasia seen in newborn babies, characterized by agglutination and destruction of their red blood cells because of incompatibility
with the mother's blood. In most cases the baby has Rh-positive blood and its mother is Rh-negative (see Rh factor). A milder form is seen when the baby has type A or B blood and the mother has type O. Problems begin with the fetus in the
womb; in Rh incompatibility the mother builds up antibodies against the fetus's red blood cells; those pass through the placenta and into the fetus and destroy its red blood cells.
The body of the fetus tries to avoid anemia and ends up releasing more and more immature red blood cells (erythroblasts), so that an extremely high percentage of the circulating red blood cells are erythroblasts. If the fetus survives at all under these circumstances, at birth it will be jaundiced and usually anemic, with other symptoms
depending on how many red blood cells have been destroyed. Called also hemolytic disease of the newborn.
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