maternal-foetal microtransfusions are when small amounts of infected blood from the mother leak from the placenta to the baby during labour (or other disruption of the placenta).
Glossary
Selected words and phrases
base – (also called nucleotide) – the building blocks in DNA that form amino acids. There are four bases represented by the letters A (adenine), T (thymine), C (cytosine) and G (guanine). In RNA the T is replaced by U (uricil).
fibrotest – a test which uses results from blood tests to predict liver damage and which may become an alternative option to liver biopsy in some patients.
side effect – an unwanted effect from taking a medicine. Sometimes called an adverse event or drug toxicity.
T-cell – a type of white blood cell (lymphocyte) that are part of the immune system and that mature in the thymus (T). CD4 cells are also called T-cells.