Maternal and Neonatal Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Immune thrombocytopenic (ITP) is an autoimmune disease that affects 9.5/100,000 adults in the population.1 It is characterized by autoimmune destruction of platelets leading to potentially life-threatening thrombocytopenia. About 7% of pregnant mothers are affected by thrombocytopenia with 1 to 10 per 10,000 mothers being affected with ITP. Studies have shown that ITP is generally a benign condition in the birthing mother and rarely has a long-lasting effect on the newborn child.2 In the rare event that the newborn is severely affected, treatment is required. We present a case of ITP in both a mother and her newborn.