Cystic Fibrosis

[Guest]

My pregnant daughter was just told she was a carrier for CF. Please tell us how you become a carrier. The information is confusing. Would her parents (1 or both) also be carriers for CF. Any other information regarding this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Davy9]

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetically transferred disease. The gene defect that causes it is considered common occurring about 1 in 2500 in the caucasian race. The genes that cause the disease are recessive. In other words it takes 2 parents, each with a recessive CF gene, to transfer both into their offspring for the disease to express itself clinically. That does mean that one of the parents of your daughter also carried the gene and passed that gene in a recessive form to her. It also means that your grandchild will at least be a recessive carrier for CF.

So the prospective father should also be genetically screened for the CF gene to determine whether the offspring is at risk. CF is a disease effecting the excretory glands. The symptoms occur primarily in the respiratory and digestive tracts.