Genetics and Marriages:Education on blood group types and marriages.

Stella (not real name) have been married for 5yrs now and no child, she has gotten pregnant twice but it was the same tragedy, the child dies after birth, the last one died 3mnths after birth just when she finished celebrating. People in the village are already saying she is a witch her husband is not even finding it easy anymore, as he is the only son, his family are on his neck to marry another woman and send her away. She was crying and thinking back, whether it was her past that is hunting her now, was it the abortion ? “Peter it won’t be well with you”, she shouted while crying , but why now that she is happily married to a man that truly loves her ? The thing is back in the university days stella had a lover who she got pregnant for and later aborted the pregnancy as he insisted she did that. The abortion was successful and since then she have stayed on her own pursuing her career then she met Adongo who became the love of her life and they got married and now these. Stories fly and one day as I was talking with my aunty she told me about Stella as she happened to be her friend. I told her to give me Stella’s number. I spoke with Stella and asked few questions from the answers I got it was likely her babies died from rhesus disease so I asked her whether she is rhesus negative or positive but she happened to be unaware of what that was so I told her to go and run a blood test, that she should go with her husband, it happened that she was rhesus negative while her husband was rhesus positive.She sent the result to me and I was like, that’s the problem. That’s why she lost her babies. You might have questions, I got answers for you. Let me explain how:In simple terms, Rhesus disease is a condition where antibodies in a pregnant woman’s body destroys her baby’s blood cells. It is also known a hemolytic disease of the fetus and new born (HDFN) or Erythroblastosis fetalis. The thing is, Rhesus disease doesn’t harm or affect the mother but it can harm the baby and in severe cases result in the baby’s death.The baby may also have low muscle tone, lack energy, and feed poorly. Some babies may develop this symptoms 2-3months after birth. But what causes the hemolytic anemia in the fetus or newborn?
When there is a mix of blood between a rhesus -ve mother and a rhesus +ve baby which can happen during miscarriage, abortion or after the first child, the mother becomes sensitized and her body builds antibodies, when she gets pregnant again with a rhesus +ve baby this antibodies that have been produced now attacks the fetus as the mothers body sees the baby as a foreign body thereby destroying the baby’s blood cells what is known as erythroblastosis fetalis or hemolytic disease of the fetus or newborn. Jaundice is caused by the accumulation of bilirubin in the body. Bilirubin is a yellow substance that results when the red blood cell is broken down, normally it is removed by the liver and passed out in the urine but in babies with rhesus disease the liver is overwhelmed with high amount of bilirubin which it can not process as such this bilirubin build up in the body resulting in yellowing of the eyes and the body of the baby.
It’s important to know that a woman with RhD -ve blood can have a RhD +ve baby if her partners blood type is RhD +ve. If it happens that the father has 2copies of the RhD antigen every baby will have RhD +ve blood. But if the father has just a copy then it will be a 50 50 chance occurrence that Rhesus antigen is an antigen found on the surface of the red blood cells. Someone is said to be rhesus positive or negative depending on the presence or absence of the rhesus antigen on the surface of their blood cells. Continue to read from my next post....