Rh incompatability has great significance in child birth. If a woman is Rh negative and the man is Rh positive, the foetus may be Rh positive having inherited the factor from its father. The Rh negative mother becomes sensitized by carrying Rh positive foetus within her body. Due to damage of blood vessels, during child birth, the mother’s immune system recognizes the Rh antigens and gets sensitized. The sensitized mother produces Rh antibodies. The antibodies are IgG type which are small and can cross placenta and enter the foetal circulation. By the time the mother gets sensitized and produce anti ‘D’ antibodies, the child is delivered.
Usually no effects are associated with exposure of the mother to Rh positive antigen during the first child birth, subsequent Rh positive children carried by the same mother, may be exposed to antibodies produced by the mother against Rh antigen, which are carried across the placenta into the foetal blood circulation. This causes haemolysis of foetal RBCs resulting in haemolytic jaundice and anaemia. This condition is known as Erythroblastosis foetalis or Haemolytic disease of the new bom (HDN).
