HOW DO PEOPLE GET CYSTIC FIBROSIS???

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease. That means people inherit it from their parents through genes (or DNA), which also determine a lot of other characteristics including height, hair color and eye color. Genes, found in the nucleus of all the body's cells, control cell function by serving as the blueprint for the production of proteins.
To have cystic fibrosis, a person must inherit two copies of the defective CF gene—one copy from each parent. If both parents are carriers of the CF gene (i.e., they each have one copy of the defective gene, but do not have the disease themselves), their child will have a 25% chance of inheriting both defective copies and having cystic fibrosis, a 50% chance of inheriting one defective copy and being a carrier, and a 25% chance of not having CF or carrying the gene.

Approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States have cystic fibrosis. An additional ten million more—or about one in every 31 Americans—are carriers of the defective CF gene, but do not have the disease. CF is most common in Caucasians, but it can affect all races.

The severity of cystic fibrosis symptoms is different from person to person. The most common symptoms are:


*Very salty-tasting skin
*Persistent coughing, at times with phlegm
*Frequent lung infections, like pneumonia or bronchitis
*Wheezing or shortness of breath
*Poor growth/weight gain in spite of a good appetite
*Frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements
*Small, fleshy growths in the nose called nasal polyps

New research shows that the severity of CF symptoms is partly based on the types of CF gene mutations (defects) a person with the disease has. There are more than 1,400 different mutations of the CF gene.

*Information via http://www.cff.org/