Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that is a hereditary disease. Signs and Symptoms of this disease include:
O: very salty-tasting skin;
O: persistent coughing, at times with phlegm;
O: frequent lung infections;
O: wheezing or shortness of breath;
O: poor growth/weight gain in spite of a good appetite; and
frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements.

About 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year.
More than 70% of patients are diagnosed by age two.
More than 45% of the Cystic Fibrosis patients are age 18 or older.
Doctors predict that a patient with Cystic Fibrosis will live to about their mid 30's.

It is diagnosed with several different types of anti-biotics that can be used.

Clearing your airway, imported devices, and nutrition and eating right. With these therapies you will slow the mucus build up, but there is no permanent way to cure this disease.

To test for Cystic Fibrosis a doctor will perform a sweat test if signs show the disease. It is a painless test that checks for a high concentration of salt. With a high concentration you might have Cystic Fibrosis. Also you can do a new born screening which will benefit the baby and help add years onto it's life. And a third was is a Carrier Test. More than 10 million Americans carry this disease, but don't have the symptoms. This disease is passed only through inheritance of one copy of the defective gene.
25% (1 in 4) the child will have CF;
50% (1 in 2) the child will carry the CF gene but not have CF; and
25% (1 in 4) the child will not carry the gene and not have CF