Does giving an Rh-positive newborn a transfusion of Rh-negative blood change the newborns blood type? EXPLAIN?
If it is an ordinary transfusion, no. If it is an exchange transfusion, No, but there is a chance that a blood test taken shortly after the transfusion may show Rh-negative, since much of the circulating RBCs are Rh negative. Remember, in an exchange transfusion for Rh incompatibility, you try to replace 1.5 to 2 x the infant’s blood volume in order to wash out the offending antibody, and to correct any existing anemia. And you give the Rh positive infant Rh negative blood so that the transfused blood does not react with the maternal anti-Rh antibody that is circulating in the infant’s blood. Over a few days the antigen-antibody reaction subsides; over a few weeks the transfused cells die and are replaced by Rh positive blood manufactured by the infant as directed by its DNA.
