A Presumptive Case of Erythroblastosis Fœtalis Due to Rh Incompatibility

On 27th March, 1946, a telephone message was received from one of the local hospitals to the effect that a male baby, six days old, was dying trom jaundice and that serological investigation was necessary. Instructions were sent that the mother's blood (i, in citrated saline, and ii, in a dry tube) and the baby's blood (in citrated saline only) should be sent to the laboratory by the hand of the father whose blood would also be taken. The next day the father brought the mother's blood only (the baby was too ill to be bled) and gave his own blood also. Serological findings.?Mother was a subject AB and Rh (by animal and human serum). Father was a subject A and Rh-}-. The mother's serum agglutinated red blood cells (rbc hereafter) from all groups excepting two samples which were Rh ?. The titre of serum was not high and some hemagglutinations were poor. They improved on increasing the quantity of the serum. The tests were performed both on slides and in test tubes. The mother.?A. N., Hindu, aged 28 years, married 14 years, six times pregnant. 1st child, living, 13 years old. 2nd child, full term, but died within 2^ hours of asphyxia. 3rd child, normal, died 7 years after birth. 4th child, normal, died 24 years after birth. 5th child, died on the 8th "day after birth with deep jaundice. 6th child, present baby. The baby.?Jaundice developed on the fourth day, deepened and killed the patient on the eighth day. Fifth child had died exactly in the same