Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease that causes the body to produce mucus that’s extremely thick and sticky. The mucus is thicker than normal because CF affects cells in the epithelium (pronounced: eh-puh-THEE-lee-um), the layer of cells that lines the passages in the body’s organs.
CF occurs because of mutations in the gene that makes a protein called CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator). A person with CF produces abnormal CFTR protein — or no CFTR protein at all, which causes the body to make thick, sticky mucus instead of the thin, watery kind. Read More…
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How Long Can A Person Live With Cystic Fibrosis?
How long do patients with cystic fibrosis live? Survival in CF has been steadily improving every year. The age at death for half of all CF patients in this country was estimated to be 37.4 years in 2008. This figure includes all the patients followed by the CF Foundation, many of whom were born in the 1970s and 1980s. Read More…
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