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INTRODUCTION: What Is Cystic Fibrosis?
Cystic fibrosis affects roughly 70, 000 people worldwide. (see History of CF ) Science has done much and come far in the quest to control this disease. In 1955, a child with this disease was not expected to live much beyond the age of five. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), one of every 3, 300 newborns will be diagnosed and they are generally diagnosed by age three. Cystic fibrosis is a disease of the body's mucous glands that is caused by a pair of genes not working properly. The first pathological description was from Dr. Dorothy Anderson of Columbia University and she reported it in 1938 in the American Journal of Diseases of Children. The gene that is responsible for causing cystic fibrosis was discovered in 1989. It affects the way that salt and water move into and out of the body's cells. It causes the body to secrete an abnormally thick, sticky mucous that clogs the airways and causes fatal infections. The mucous also blocks off parts of the pancreas, preventing enzymes from reaching the intestines to digest food. Cystic fibrosis can affect the sweat glands and the reproductive system as well. It is a chronic genetic disease, and is most often diagnosed in children whose parents have no known history or affiliation with the disease. Cystic fibrosis is fatal and affects approximately 30, 000 people in the United States. The severity of the disease varies tremendously. There is at this time no cure; however, the average life expectancy for the disease is now 32 and only a few decades ago, cystic fibrosis patients were lucky to see their adulthood.
