Favism in a female newborn infant whose mother ingested fava beans before delivery.

We describe a case of favism in a female newborn infant with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency whose mother had ingested fava beans 5 days before delivery. At birth there were clinical and hematologic signs of hemolytic anemia, hemoglobinuria, and no blood group immunization. Study of the G6PD activity and 2-deoxy-glucose-6-phosphate utilization rate revealed that the infant and the mother were heterozygous for G6PD deficiency.