IS FAMILIAL JAUNDICE OF NEW-BORN INFANTS ERYTHROBLASTOSIS?

Abstract

Familial jaundice of new-born infants was first described by Pfannenstiel.¹The clinical features are afebrile jaundice, peculiar to certain families and the tendency to occur in successive pregnancies. The children appear to be normal at birth, but they die a few days later as the result of a grave and progressive icterus. The stools are not acholic, but the urine usually contains bile pigment. The liver and spleen are enlarged as a rule. Death following a collapse usually occurs in a few days. Abt²stated that the condition has nothing in common with Winckel's or Buhl's disease; that, in a sense, the children are defective, and that they soon become incapacitated to carry on extra-uterine life. He did not believe that the condition is due to an injury at birth or to toxemia of pregnancy. Rolleston,³in a study of 25 family groups, found that in 15 of