What is it?
• Cystic Fibrosis is a hereditary disease that a
person gets when BOTH parents are carriers.
• It causes abnormally thick mucus in the
sinuses, lungs and pancreas.
Alternate Names
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Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas
Fibrocystic disease of the pancreas
Mucoviscidosis
Mucoviscidosis of the pancreas
Pancreas fibrocystic disease
Pancreatic cystic fibrosis
Most likely to get this disease
• People who are…
• mostly Caucasian Americans
• northern or Central European decent
Symptoms in new borns
• Delayed growth
• Failure to gain weigh normally
• No bowel movement in the first 24 to 48
hours of new borns life
• Salty tasting skin (don’t ask why or how this is
found to be a symptom. I don’t know)
Symptoms in adults
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Belly pain
Increased gas
Bloating
Rapid weight loss
Lung disfuntion
Sinuses are stuffed and in pain
Pneumonia
Fever
Increased cough or coughing up blood
Shortness of breath
Loss of appetite
For men some other (but rare ish) symptoms include: Sweat glands
overact and messed up reproductive system
How common?
1 in 29 Caucasian Americans
Equally distributed between men and women
Is this disease Deadly? Will it shorten
life span?
• This disease is deadly, and does shorten life
span to the average of 35 years old.
• Children start out fairly healthy and the
disease gets progressively worse.
Tests for babies
• In most states it is required that babies be
tested soon after being born
• In babies they prick the foot and collect the
blood on filter paper and look for any thing
irregular.
• They also look for immunoreactive, and
trypsinogen
Tests for older children and Adults
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Blood test
Sweat chloride
Ct scan
Chest xray
Lung function test
Upper G.I and small bowel series
Treatments for lungs
• Treatments DO NOT cure the disease
• Antibiotics (for pneumonia)
• DNAese enzyme replacement (helps patient
cough up mucus easily)
• Flu vaccine and Pneumococcal polysaccharide
vaccine yearly
• In bad cases lung transplant
• Oxygen therapy as lungs get worse
Treatments for pancreas
• Treatments DO NOT cure the disease
• A diet high in protein and calories
• Pancreatic enzymes to help absorb fats and
proteins
• Vitamin supplements, A,D,E and K
Support groups
• There are many all around the U.S
• Reaching out foundation is a huge support
group, they help families emotionally,
physically, and finacially.
Interesting Facts
• A person inherits the defective CF gene from
BOTH parents
• There are over 1,000 different variations of
the disease
• People with this disease aren’t supposed to go
scuba diving
• Some peoples symptoms show up at the age
of 18.
Pictures