In article <349F3F99.22129DDD at khor.pc.my>, Jordan Khor <kck at khor.pc.my> wrote:
> This is concerning a baby boy borned about 3 weeks ago. At first, he is
> having jaundice for about 10 days. Now the blood analysis review that
> the hemoglobin drops continuosly. Also the PCV, TWBC & platelets also
> droping. He is now in hospital and the Drs have not identified the
> cause. A bone marrow test will be done on 23 Dec. 1997, 8 am.
>> There is a case history for the baby's mother. First term baby girl also
> have some kind of blood related problems and survived only 35days.
> Second pregnancy ended abruptly in 35-week of gestation. Details are
> available if required.
I assume from the poster's address that this is happening in Malaysia. I
believe the Burmese, Thais, Khmer, and other southeast Asian peoples have
a particularly high incidence of alpha-thalassemia, which could possibly
account for such a familial presentation of severe neonatal anemia.
However, the classic cases of homozygous alpha-thal-1 generally are fatal
within a few hours of birth (or even before birth). Whether a double
haplozygote alpha-1/alpha-2 could produce this picture I don't know. One
can rule this out by looking for Hb Bart's by hemoglobin electrophoresis
Ed
_________________________________________________________
Ed Uthman, MD <uthman at neosoft.com>
Pathologist "Nemo liber est qui
Houston/Richmond, TX, USA corpore servit."
<http://www.neosoft.com/~uthman/> -Seneca
