Cystic Fibrosis is a
disorder where the exocrine glands secrete
abnormally thick mucus, leading to obstruction of
the pancreas and chronic infections of the lungs,
which usually cause death in childhood or early
adulthood. Some mildly affected patients may
survive longer. Doctors can diagnose the disease
by testing the patients perspiration because people
with Cystic Fibrosis have high amounts of salt in
their perspiration. Those with respiratory infections
are treated with antibiotics, with aerosols that
relieve constriction of the airways and liquefy the
thick mucus, and by physical therapy to help
patients cough up the obstructing secretions.
Patients with pancreatic insufficiency can take
pancreatic enzymes with meals. Intestinal
obstruction, which occurs primarily in infancy
(meconium ileus), may require surgery. The liver
may also be seriously affected by Cystic Fibrosis.
No cure for the disease has yet been found. Cystic
fibrosis is the most common......
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