Cystic Fibrosis
Human Hereditary Assignment
Names and Causes
Symptoms
Prenatal Tests
Number of People Affected
Can anyone get it? How is it Inherited?
What kind of Medical Assistance is Required by People who have the Disease?
In 1938, American physician Dorothy Hansine Andersen identified cystic fibrosis as a disease. The primary treatment options to treat the symptoms of cystic fibrosis, until most recently were antibiotics and physical therapy. In 1989, scientists at the University of Michigan and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, made a huge advance when they identified the gene that causes cystic fibrosis and the CFTR protein. This improved understanding of the disease made it possible for scientists at the Cystic Fibrosis Center in North Carolina to breed mice that showed symptoms of human cystic fibrosis in 1992. (Cobb 5)
The medical assistance required for people with cystic fibrosis are to alleviate symptoms of the mucus build-up in the lungs. Large doses of antibiotics are given to persons with cystic fibrosis in order to combat the lung infections and to prevent a severe, life-threatening infection. On a predetermined schedule, some people undergo a course of antibiotics four times a year. (Cobb 11)