rh incompatibility

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Word: Rh Incompatibility

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Rh incompatibility refers to a situation where a person has a different Rh blood type than someone else, which can lead to serious health problems. Specifically, it usually occurs when an Rh-negative person receives Rh-positive blood. This can cause the body to react poorly, leading to the breakdown of red blood cells (hemolysis) and anemia (a lack of healthy red blood cells).

Usage Instructions:

• Use "Rh incompatibility" when discussing blood types, especially in medical contexts or transfusions.
• It is often mentioned in discussions about pregnancy, blood transfusions, and genetics.

Example Sentence:

• "If a pregnant woman is Rh-negative and her baby is Rh-positive, there is a risk of Rh incompatibility, which can affect the baby’s health."

Advanced Usage:

• In a medical setting, you might encounter discussions about "preventing Rh incompatibility" through treatments like Rho(D) immune globulin, which helps protect Rh-negative individuals from problems.

Word Variants:

• Rh factor: This refers to the specific protein on red blood cells that determines whether someone is Rh-positive or Rh-negative.
• Hemolysis: This is the breakdown of red blood cells that can occur due to Rh incompatibility.

Different Meanings:

• In general, "incompatibility" can also refer to any situation where two things do not work well together, not just in the context of blood types.

Synonyms:

• Incompatibility: A general term for things that do not match or work together.
• Discrepancy: This can be used to describe differences in compatibility, but is less specific than "Rh incompatibility."

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:

• There aren’t specific idioms or phrasal verbs directly related to "Rh incompatibility," but you might hear phrases like “not a good match” in other contexts.

Summary:

Rh incompatibility is primarily a medical term related to blood types. Understanding it is important for situations like blood transfusions and pregnancy.

Academic

Noun

1. incompatibility of Rh blood types; a transfusion of Rh-positive blood given to a Rh-negative person (or vice versa) can result in hemolysis and anemia

Synonyms

• rh incompatibility