Blood each consisting of one of four main types: A, B, AB, or O blood type is determined by the type of antigens on the blood cells. Protein antigens on the surface of blood cells that can cause a response from the immune system. Rhesus factor (Rh) is a protein on the surface of red blood cells. Most people who have the Rh factor is Rhesus positive. Those who do not have the Rh factor is Rhesus negative.
How do you know you are Rh negative or Rh positive?
• When you have a blood test to find out your blood type. If you lack antigen Rh blood, it is called Rhesus negative. If your blood has antigen, it is called Rhesus positive. More than 85% of people are Rhesus positive.• When the mother is Rhesus negative and the father is Rhesus positive, the baby may inherit the Rh factor from the father. The baby is Rhesus positive, too. Problems can arise when blood incompatibility baby has Rh factor and the mother's blood does not contain the Rh factor.
What might happen if you are Rhesus negative and you were pregnant?
• If you are Rhesus negative, you can produce antibodies to a Rhesus positive baby. If a small amount of the baby's blood mixes with your blood, your body may respond as if it were allergic to the baby. Your body may make antibodies to the Rh antigens in the baby's blood. This means you have to be alert and your antibodies can cross the placenta and attack your baby's blood. Maternal antibodies will break down red blood cells and consequently baby infant anemia (the blood has a number of low red blood cells). This condition is called hemolytic disease or hemolytic anemia. It can be severe enough to cause serious illness, brain damage, or death to the unborn child or newborn.Sensitization and maternal antibodies attack the baby's blood can occur at any time when the baby's blood mixes with the mother's blood. It can happen if a woman is Rhesus negative:
• Miscarriage
• Loss or intake induced menstrual
• An ectopic pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy
• Chorionic help the villi (CVS)
• Blood transfusion (transfusion)
How Rhesus factor problems can be prevented?
• You can have a blood test to find out your blood type and Rh factor.• antibody test is another blood test that can show if a woman has Rhesus negative Rhesus positive blood produce antibodies.
• An injection or Rh immunoglobulin (RhIg), one of the blood product that can prevent sensitization of Rh negative mothers.
When Immunoglobulin (RhIg) should be used?
RhIg used during pregnancy and after delivery:• If a woman with Rhesus negative blood is not sensitive to Rh factor, your doctor may recommend pregnant women receive RhIg around week 28 of pregnancy to prevent sensitization during pregnancy.
• If a baby is born with blood is Rhesus positive, pregnant women should be given another dose of mother RhIg to prevent from making antibodies against the cells of Rh-positive blood where the mother may have been mixed with the baby's blood before and during childbirth.
• Treatment only beneficial for pregnant RhIg where it should be given for each pregnancy and childbirth Rhesus positive requiring repeat doses RhIg.
• Rhesus negative pregnant mother should also receive treatment after a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or induced abortion to prevent a woman's chance to produce antibodies that will attack the Rhesus positive baby in the future.
What other reasons should be given where Rhlg?
• If amniocentesis is done, the unborn baby is Rhesus positive red blood cells can be mixed with the blood of Rhesus negative mothers. This will cause the mother to produce antibodies, so Rhlg should be given.• A Rhesus negative mothers can receive RhIg after birth even if the mother decides to have tubes tied and cut (ligasi Tubal surgery) to avoid unwanted future for the following reasons:
• Women may undergo Tubal reversal to allow pregnancy again.
• There is a low likelihood that the sterilization may fail to prevent pregnancy.
• There are cases that need blood transfusions in the future, Rhlg treatment will prevent women from producing antibodies in the blood.
What you should do if the antibodies produced?
• When a woman's blood contains antibodies, RhIg treatment is not helping. A mother who has a sensitivity of Rh factor will be examined during pregnancy to monitor the development of the unborn child.• When the baby was born on time, blood transfusions for infants performed to replace a diseased blood cells with healthy blood.
• For cases that are more severe, the baby may be born early or be given a blood transfusion while the baby is in the womb of the mother.
