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Rh disease (also known as rhesus isoimmunization, Rh (D) disease, or rhesus incompatibility, and blue baby disease) is a type of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). HDFN due to anti-D antibodies is the proper and currently used name for this disease as the Rh blood group system actually has more than 50 antigens and not only the ...
The name rhesus factor (Rh) goes back to the use of erythrocytes extracted from the blood of rhesus monkeys for obtaining the first blood serum. The Rh blood group system is a human blood group system. It contains proteins on the surface of red blood cells. After the ABO blood group system, it is the most likely to be involved in transfusion ...
These products are given to Rh(D) negative mothers of unknown or Rh(D) positive babies during and after pregnancy to prevent the creation of antibodies to the blood of the Rh(D) positive child. This antigen sensitization and subsequent incompatibility phenomenon causes Rhesus disease, the most common form of HDN. [4]
Individuals with a positive RhD status have RhD antigens expressed on the cell membrane of their red blood cells, whereas Rhesus D antigens are absent for individuals with a negative RhD status. Rhesus factor testing is usually performed on pregnant women to determine the RhD blood group of the mother and the fetus.
A complete blood type would describe each of the 45 blood groups, and an individual's blood type is one of many possible combinations of blood-group antigens. [3] Almost always, an individual has the same blood group for life, but very rarely an individual's blood type changes through addition or suppression of an antigen in infection, malignancy, or autoimmune disease.
Blood is taken from the mother, and using PCR, can detect the K, C, c, D, and E alleles of fetal DNA. This blood test is non-invasive to the fetus and is an easy way of checking antigen status and risk of HDN. Testing has proven very accurate and is routinely done in the UK at the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in Bristol. [21]
Those criteria have broadened over the last few years; testing is usually done through a blood or saliva sample. Patients can consult their primary care physician for referrals to genetic counselors.
The term human blood group systems is defined by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) as systems in the human species where cell-surface antigens—in particular, those on blood cells—are "controlled at a single gene locus or by two or more very closely linked homologous genes with little or no observable recombination between them", [1] and include the common ABO and Rh ...