please can anyone tell me about anti-kell antibodies i really don't understand it

[sarah2578]

hi i am 17 weeks pregnant and have anti kell anitbodies in my blood i am o neg and the father is b pos i just cant get my head around that i have these in my blood now this is my fourth pregnancy and all my other babies were born with neg blood and did not need the anit d injuection after any birth so am very confused.

can anyone help

my mom has kell negative in her blood after fourth dc wasborn. no idea really. at all. except she has to carry a card saying sheis kell negative. dsister was born perfectly fine.
actually, she is pregnant now, and was offered the anti d injection as wel. dont know i she took it or not.

Simple Explanation:

Whatever our blood type (ie. A, B AB, O), we all have two Rhesus genes, called D or d, depending on whether we are Rhesus positive or negative and babies inherit one of these from each parent.

A person is Rh(D) negative if they have inherited a d gene from each parent (d/d)

A person is Rh(D) positive if they have inherited either of the following:

• a D gene from each parent (D/D)

• a D from one parent and a d from the other (D/d or d/D)

This is why it is possible to have a Rh(D) negative child if the mother is Rh(D) negative and the father Rh(D) positive. If the father has both a negative and a positive gene, the baby may inherit this negative gene and, as all Rh(D) negative women have two negative genes, the baby will definitely inherit a negative from her.

PLEASE NOTE: If a negative woman is absolutely sure that her partner is Rh(D) negative, they will surely produce Rh(D) negative offspring and no harm can come to the baby from any Rhesus antibody the mother`s blood may contain, even if she had already developed Rhesus Iso-immune disease before the pregnancy.

Antibodies against Rh(D) positive cells will be present in the mother`s bloodstream if she has previously had a Rh(D) positive baby and received no anti-D. Antibodies will also be present if the mother has unknowingly had a placental bleed during pregnancy, causing fetal Rh(D) positive blood to mix with the mother's. If the mother has previously had a miscarriage or received a transfusion where Rh(D) positive blood was used, it is very likely that, if an adequate dose of anti-D was not administered at the time, her blood will contain Rh(D) antibodies.

REF: www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/preconception/rhesus/index.php (accessed 11/09/2007)

Hope this helps somewhat - although I understand it - I'm still not in a position to quite explain it.

Cee - 1st year midwifery student.