Cystic Fibrosis
(CF) used to be considered a childhood disease, because people born with it rarely lived to reach adolescence.
Now, with marked improvement in treatments—from physiotherapy and antibiotics that keep the lungs clear of mucus and microbes to enzyme supplements that aid digestion—many people with CF live into their thirties and beyond (Hopkin, 1998).
CF was known as a very deadly disease. World wide about 50,000 children and young adults have . Of those, 30,000 Americans have it, 500 Americans die each year (Ansorge, 1994). CF is an inherited disease of the exocrine glands affecting the pancreas, respiratory system, and apocrine glands. Usually begins in infancy and is characterized by ...
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born with them. The inherited genetic defect causes a chemical error in all the cells in their body (Silverstein, 1994; Wagner, Reynolds, Moran, Moss, Wine, Flotte, Gardner, 998; Shapiro, 1991; Drake, 1995). In children and adults with CF, a mistake in a single gene disables a type of protein that functions as an ion channel. This molecule regulates the balance of salts in a special type of cell that lines many of the body's glands (Hopkin, 1998). All people with genetic disorders have inherited the defective genes from their parents, who in turn had inherited them from their parents, and so on, stretching back many generations. Notice Fig. 1.1, a CF family tree. Pedigree charts can track , and the genes that cause it, through the generations. Although people with CF have the disease from the moment of conception, the symptoms can appear at different ages and vary in severity from person to person (Wagner, et al., 1998). People with CF have difficulty breathing, and most experience ...
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Cystic Fibrosis. (2008, August 20). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Cystic-Fibrosis/88623
"Cystic Fibrosis." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Cystic-Fibrosis/88623>
"Cystic Fibrosis." Essayworld.com. August 20, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Cystic-Fibrosis/88623.
"Cystic Fibrosis." Essayworld.com. August 20, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Cystic-Fibrosis/88623.
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