Originally published August 6 2005
New test may prevent brain damage in infants
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
More hospitals are using a low-cost test to identify jaundice in newborns in an effort to prevent brain damage.
Most people have heard of jaundice -- the yellow color that develops on some babies -- but few realize that if left untreated, it can cause irreversible brain damage.
HCA hospitals nationwide, including Las Palmas and Del Sol medical centers in El Paso, have instituted routine testing for jaundice for all babies born in the hospitals.
Yet it can spare a child from severe and irreparable neurological damage caused by jaundice that goes out of control.
"The test is real important," said Mayanin De Los Santos, whose newborn son, Ryan, received the test before being released from the hospital.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60 percent of babies born in the United States have jaundice.
Jaundice results when the bilirubin count in a baby's blood is higher than normal, said Carol Bautista, a registered nurse and director of obstetrics and gynecology at Del Sol Medical Center.
"This is such a simple and easy test," Bautista said.
"And kernicterus can be such a horrible, horrible condition.
Most newborns' livers help excrete it within the first couple of days of birth, but some babies' livers don't work as quickly.
The buildup of bilirubin in a baby's blood turns the child's skin and whites of the eyes a yellowish color, Bautista explained.
Registered nurse Annica Chavez-Baca took a hand-held device and pressed it to the infant's head for a few seconds.
Ryan fussed when the nurse pulled off his tiny blue cap to hold a small tip of the instrument to his forehead, but he settled down when the cap went back on his head and a pacifier was placed in his mouth.
Often, babies who have jaundice can be easily treated with exposure to special lights.
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