Introduction

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease which, if untreated, is usually fatal in early childhood. It is the UK’s most common life-threatening disease, with over 8000 sufferers. Although it affects people of all races and ethnicities, it it most common in people with a Northern European origin.

The main areas affected in cystic fibrosis are the lungs and the digestive tract, but other organs can be involved. A gene mutation leads to the accumulation of thick mucus, which causes many symptoms including difficulty breathing, respiratory infections and problems with digestion. 

There is currently no cure for this condition, but symptoms can be reduced by daily therapy and use of antibiotics to manage infection. However, despite these treatments, sufferers inevitably have a shortened life span.

X-ray image courtesy of Flickr under the creative commons licence 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/heitkamp/1389984232/