Cystic fibrosis is a fatal inherited disease affecting thousands of children and adults every year. What is it and how is it treated?
Over ten million people living in the United States carry this defective gene around and never realize it. While these people are not afflicted with cystic fibrosis, there are potential consequences of being a carrier. In order for a child to actually get cystic fibrosis, both of his parents must carry this gene. This is why during prenatal visits obstetricians recommend getting a blood test done to test specifically for this gene. If both partners are not carriers or if only one partner is a carrier, there is no chance their child will be born with cystic fibrosis. If both partners are carriers however, the odds increase. One out of every four children that have both parents carrying the gene will be born with cystic fibrosis. Another one of those children will not be affected at all and will not even get the gene passed to him. The other two children will not develop cystic fibrosis but will become carriers of the gene.
In the Caucasian community of the United States, cystic fibrosis remains the number one hereditary disease that ultimately proves fatal. Most people afflicted with cystic fibrosis that live to be adults will usually succumb to the disease in their early thirties. Men who have cystic fibrosis are usually sterile while women who suffer from the disease have much difficulty carrying their baby to term.
Many of the complications that can result due to the disease include diabetes, osteoporosis, recurring attacks of pneumonia, respiratory failure, diseases afflicting the liver and coughing up blood.
Although the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis is a grim one, there are treatments available to help sufferers maintain a decent quality of life. Children who suffer from cystic fibrosis are often given ibuprofen; this has been shown to slow down the process of the deterioration of the lungs. Frequent draining of the lungs and physical therapy performed on the chest have been effective measures to clear the lungs of the sticky mucus. Inhalers and antibiotics have been successfully used to clear up lung infections, while other drugs have been developed to actually thin the thick mucus, thereby causing fewer lung infections. Extensive research is being done with gene therapy that would actually replace the defective gene on babies still in the womb, eliminating the disease altogether.
