Cystic Fibrosis

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic Fibrosis is a life threatening genetic disease. It is one of the most common genetic diseases and is a lot more common in Caucasians than any other culture. It is the most common fatal genetic disease affecting 1 in 2500 Caucasians.   If you are diagnosed with the disease lung infections become a common illness. It also affects the pancreas which makes it difficult for the body to break down food and absorb the food which leads to the patient becoming malnourished.

How does it happen?

If you have Cystic Fibrosis your body has a faulty iron pump. This means that your body struggles to absorb certain nutrition’s that are vital for the body to function properly. The main areas affected by Cystic Fibrosis are the lungs and the pancreas. The body produces excessive amounts of sweat that is extremely salty. The immune system becomes weak and thick layers of sticky mucus start to sit on top of the lungs. The mucus blocks up the lungs and lowers the lungs capacity to inhale and exhale. For Cystic Fibrosis to be transferred to children both parents must have one mutated gene. Usually one gene that is mutated will have over 1000 mutated cells, this causes faulty genes which can in some cases cause diseases and disabilities. 

What research is being done?

There is a kind of gene therapy that has been released to help the symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis but does not cure Cystic Fibrosis. A patient is given a gene to inhale which produces protein in the lungs that the body can’t produce on its own. This treatment is only short term and does not cure Cystic Fibrosis. This Therapy is only a new therapy and it is unknown if there will be any implications down the track. Reducing the symptoms with this therapy is only temporary and must be constantly used for an improvement to take place.

Chances of getting Cystic Fibrosis?

 If both parents carry the mutated gene 1 in 4 children will develop the disease. 2 in 4 children will carry the disease in the gene but will not be affected by the disease and 1 in 4 children will be completely unaffected by the disease. The average life expectancy for someone that has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis is 28-30 years old.

Resource- Tania Blanksby