Question
What are the mechanisms behind neonatal hemolytic disease?
Answer
Neonatal hemolytic disease (nhd) is caused by blood type antigen mismatch between the mother and the fetus. When antibodies in the mother’s body are produced that do not match the fetus’s blood type antigens, these antibodies can cross the placenta and enter the fetus’s body, triggering a homologous immune hemolytic reaction. The main causes include Rh blood type incompatibility and ABO blood type incompatibility between mother and child. The fetus’s blood type is determined by the genes of both parents. If the blood type antigen inherited from the father has never appeared in the mother’s body, when the fetus’s red blood cells enter the mother’s body, she will produce corresponding antibodies. These antibodies then cross the placenta into the fetus’s body, leading to an immune reaction between antigens and antibodies, thereby causing hemolysis.