In an alert issued to the nearly 5,000 hospitals it evaluates, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations said doctors are seeing a re-emergence in newborns of a rare condition called kernicterus. Kernicterus can develop if jaundice becomes severe, and usually causes a form of cerebral palsy with poor muscle control. Hearing loss, teeth malformations and other handicaps also may occur. Jaundice affects more than half of all U.S. newborns. It may go away by itself or with treatment that usually involves placing the infant under special fluorescent lights.
Blood transfusions are necessary in severe cases.
Kernicterus is not monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but an informal physicians' registry suggests that about 90 cases and three deaths have occurred since 1984, Jeffrey Maisels said. Maisels runs an American Academy of Pediatrics subcommittee which is revising 1994 guidelines for treating jaundice. Though those 90 cases are a tiny portion of the estimated 4 million annual births nationwide, doctors suspect the numbers are higher. Sending babies home a day or two after birth has contributed to the problem, according to the academy and the commission. Jaundice may not become obvious until several days after a newborn has gone home.