• Question: WHAT IS CISTIC VIBROSIS

    Asked by 1philip1 to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 15 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 15 Mar 2010:

      Cystic fibrosis is a gentic disease (it is passed down through families).
      It causes lung problems and disabilty that gets worse as the disease progresses. At the moment there is no cure.

      I’m not an expert in this so you may want to ask your question to other scientists too!

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 15 Mar 2010:

      I guess you mean Cystic Fibrosis (sometimes just called CF).

      This is a disease that is genetic – that means you can only suffer from this disease if you inherit it, you cannot catch it from anyone else. Many genetic diseases are rare but this one is fairly common.

      It is a very serious disease that, like most genetic diseases, cannot be cured – but it can be treated and managed.

      That is about all I know – there is an excellent website run by the CF Trust with much more information.

      http://www.cftrust.org.uk/

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 15 Mar 2010:

      I can give a suitably flippant answer if you really mean cystic “vibrosis”. Sounds kind of rude to me.

      On the other hand if you mean “cystic fibrosis”, this is a genetically inherited disease (you are born with it). It affects the lungs and digestive system by clogging them with thick mucous (slime). So it makes it hard to breathe and eat. People usually die before they are 40 years old.

      It is caused by a defect in a single gene that transports ions like chloride across cell membranes. Scientists are trying to cure it by using “gene therapy” to replace the bad gene with a good gene. This has proved more difficult than people thought at first. Sometimes important science moves slowly.

    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 15 Mar 2010:

      It does sound like Cistic Vibrosis, but it is actually called Cystic Fibrosis. It is a hereditary disease, which means it is passed to children from their parents genes (genes are parts of the cell that hold all the information about how to make a specific person such as eye colour and hair colour). People who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis produce a lot of mucus in their lungs which makes it difficult for them to breathe. In order to help with this they get lung massages each day to help break up and remove some of the mucus. It is also common for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers to have problems with digesting food in the stomach, which can lead to them not getting enough vitamins and minerals from their food.
      Because it is a hereditary disease you can’t catch it like you can catch colds and flu.

      Do you know anyone who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis?

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