Causes for Jaundice

Jaundice Menu

Some of the Common Causes of Jaundice are described below:

Neonatal Jaundice: Jaundice in newborn babies can occur for two reasons:

Newborn babies have too many red blood cells which contain haemoglobin. These excess red blood cells form a large amount of bilirubin.

A newborn's liver is rimmature and therefore cannot process the bilirubin as quickly as an adult.

Viral Hepatitis: Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver and is often associated with jaundice. Hepatitis can be caused by several viruses, but the most common ones are: hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Hepatitis A is transmitted through contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B and C are transmitted in blood and other body fluids (e.g. semen, breast milk).

Galactosaemia - Galactose is a milk sugar. A baby with galactosaemia lacks the enzyme needed to metabolise galactose. The high levels of milk sugar can cause cirrhosis of the liver and then subsequently lead to jaundice.

Malignancy: Cancer is a possible cause of jaundice, particularly in people of ages above 55 years and in cases where there are few other symptoms besides the jaundice. In these cases the jaundice is usually caused by a blockage in the excretion of bilirubin.

Pregnancy: One very rare cause of jaundice is pregnancy. Sometimes, this is associated with excessive 'morning sickness'.

Other Causes may be:

Hemolytic Anemia.
Autoimmune Hepatitis.
Malaria.
Breastfeeding Jaundice - It is a type of physiologic or exaggerated physiologic jaundice.
Blocked bile ducts.
Drug-induced cholestasis (bile pools in the gallbladder because of the effects of drugs).
Alcoholic liver disease (alcoholic cirrhosis).
Cancer of the Pancreas.
Primary biliary cirrhosis.
Ischemic hepatocellular jaundice (jaundice caused by inadequate oxygen or inadequate blood flow to the liver).
Disorders present since birth that cause problems processing bilirubin.
Chronic Active Hepatitis.
Autoimmune Hepatitis.

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