Erythroblastosis Fetalis

A MOST important complication of erythroblastosis fetalis is brain damage, commonly known as kernicterus,1 which has in the past affected about 15 per cent of liveborn infants with erythroblastosis. About 70 per cent of babies with kernicterus die within seven days of birth, and many of the remainder succumb during the first year to infectious diseases. Kernicterus is thus the most important cause of post-natal death in erythroblastosis fetalis. Babies with kernicterus who do not die have permanent neurologic sequelae, and constitute perhaps 10 per cent of all cases of cerebral palsy. Kernicterus has been proved to be preventable by . . .