ERYTHROBLASTOSIS FETALIS

[erythroblastosis fe.ta.lis] n [NL, fetal erythroblastosis] (ca. 1934): a hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn that occurs when the system of an Rh-negative mother produces antibodies to an antigen in the blood of an Rh-positive fetus which cross the placenta and destroy fetal erythrocytes and that is characterized by an increase in circulating erythroblasts and by jaundice