Haemolytic Anaemia
Haemolytic anaemia arises because we are destroying our blood cells. In the infant this can be because of an immune response due to blood group or rhesus incompatibility (see rhesus disease of the newborn in this section), because of abnormal haemoglobin, as in sickle cell disease, because of abnormal red cell membrane, as in hereditary spherocytosis where the red cells are round and the walls fragile, because of red cell enzyme defects such as lack of an enzyme called Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which stops damage to the red cell, or because of infection or exposure to certain medicines. The red cells are destroyed (split, or ‘lysed’ - hence haemolytic) either by the immune system or in the liver and spleen.
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