erythroblastosis fetalis

[D_Juggz]

i'll prolly muddle this question up, but its something that i've come across tonight with no specific answer.

If a pregnant woman is Rh-negative and she gets exposed to her baby's Rh-positive blood - she develops antibodies against it, with the next child if the same thing happens her body will attack her child's right?

My question is will the same thing happen if the mother is Rh-positive and the baby is Rh-negative?

(a friend told me no, because only an Rh negative person can develop antibodies, becoming sensitised to Rh-positive, while Rh-positive people can't produce antibodies against Rh-Neg,because there are no receptors for it)

is this right, or is it possible that the fetus's blood attacks the mother's causing inflammation of the placenta or something?

thanks
D_J

[MrMistery]

You need to understand that by "contact" we only mean a small amount of blood, not 2 liters If the mother is negative and the baby is positive, than all that is needed is one viable red blood cell to produce the specific response. If the situation is reversed, in the case of a contact it may kill a few red blood cells, but nothing alarming will happen

[D_Juggz]

yeah i figure that, but i was just wondering if the reaction is able to occur the other way around aswell...
i was just thinking even if there was a small rupture in the placenta, causing the baby's blood to attack the mother's that would stimulate an immune response from the mother would it not?

[Poison]

was just thinking even if there was a small rupture in the placenta, causing the baby's blood to attack the mother's that would stimulate an immune response from the mother would it not?

The blood of the baby and the blood of the mother NEVER mixes. What do you mean by saying a small rupture?

[MrMistery]

Ok, so what you need to understand is that the blood of the baby and that of the mothernever mix. It happens(though rarely) that they mix at childbirth. If what you are saying were to happen(but it doesn't) the result would be death of the baby, the mother would be fine

[Poison]

If the blood mixes, the mother's body threats the baby like its a foreign organ.

[victor]

What I think is the matter of how many blood inside the baby. The diferences between mother's and the baby's blood in quantity maybe one of the factor that nothing happened when Rh+ mother have an Rh- baby

[Poison]

Maybe. But also think that, as I said before, the baby is like an organ of the mother. So the body prefers to kill the organ rather than killing the organism.

[victor]

But, now I get a little doubt bout my statement above..I started to think that cells can reproduce in fast time...so soon or later they will be many also (not as man as mothers but I think it's enough to create problems inside the mother's womb)

[Poison]

It causes problems. If the baby dies inside the mother, she can even die.

[MrMistery]

Yes but not necessarily. Many babies are born dead

[Poison]

It is necessary. I'm not talking about dead born babies. Those babies die inside the mother, couldn't be recognized and poison the mother's blood.