Facts About Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States.

CF causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus, due to the faulty transport of sodium chloride (salt) within cells lining organs such as the lungs and pancreas, to their outer surfaces.  The thick CF mucus also obstructs the pancreas, preventing enzymes from reaching the intestines to help break down and digest food.  

CF has a variety of symptoms.  The most common are: very salty-tasting skin; persistent coughing, wheezing or pneumonia; excessive appetite but poor weight gain; and bulky stools.

One in 31 Americans (one in 28 Caucasians) - more than 10 million people - is an unknowing, symptom-less carrier of the defective gene.

An individual must inherit a defective copy of the CF gene - one from each parent - to have cystic fibrosis.  Each time two carriers conceive a child, there is a 25% chance that the child will have CF; a 50% chance that the child will be a carrier; and a 25% chance that the child will be a non-carrier.