Neonatal Jaundice Associated with Familial G6PD Deficiency in Israel.

It is now well established that hyperbilirubinaemia and even kernikterus may occur in the newborn in association with glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, in the absence of any of the other causes of neonatal jaundice (Panizon, 1960a, b; Doxiadis, Fessas, and Valaes, 1960; Doxiadis, Fessas, Valaes, and Mastrokalos, 1961; Fessas, Doxiadis, and Valaes, 1962; Smith and Vella, 1960; Weatherall, 1960; Flatz, Szingam, Premyothin, Penbharkkul, Ketusingh, and Chulajata, 1963). In Israel, in spite of the high incidence of G6PD deficiency in some communities, a retrospective survey of 42,000 births undertaken by Szeinberg, Oliver, Schmidt, Adam, and Sheba (1963), revealed only one case of severe neonatal jaundice that could possibly be ascribed to the enzyme deficiency. We wish to report here 8 cases of severe neonatal jaundice which occurred in G6PD-deficient infants in a Jerusalem hospital (Shaare Zedek), and to submit evidence suggesting that an antiseptic dye applied to the umbilicus was the precipitating haemolytic agent.