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Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh, Sandra on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Anita Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2014:
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease – people are born with it. Although we mostly think about it as affecting peoples lungs, it really affects their whole body. We can treat sufferers with drugs such as cytokines (molecules that are made by cells), and this does extend peoples lives. One treatment is to give the sufferer a lung transplant. This really helps. Gene therapy helps too. Probably the most helpful treatment is to keep the lungs as healthy as possible, and this relies heavily on antibiotics. So you can see how important it is to use antibiotics properly, so that bugs don’t become resistant to them.
Cheers,
Anita.
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Amy Monaghan answered on 18 Jun 2014:
There is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis. However treatment is getting better and people are hopeful that gene therapy may provide a cure in the future.
Cystic fibrosis is caused by a faulty gene which causes the airways, and sometimes digestive system and pancreas, to become clogged with thick mucus. Treatments at the moment include physical therapy and pulmozyme or hypotonic saline which help to break down the mucus in the airways. Antibiotics are also very important to protect people with cystic fibrosis from lung infections. In the future doctors hope that we will be able to replace the faulty cystic fibrosis gene with a normal working copy, meaning that people with CF can live without medication.
Amy
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Daryl Jones answered on 27 Jun 2014:
Hey brook124s!
There’s no cure, but treatments are improving. I believe one day that we will be able to cure cystic fibrosis, probably by gene therapy! Replacing the faulty genes with good ones 🙂
Hope you have a GREAT day 🙂
Daryl
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