Editorial: Cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis, sometimes known as mucoviscidosis, is a generalised disorder of the 
exocrine glands which affects children, adolescents and young adults. No biochemical 
abnormality may be regarded as the primary cause, although at various 
times it has been suggested that the defect lies in ion 
transport, in glycoprotein structure or in membrane permeability. Cystic fibrosis is 
inherited as a Mendelian recessive, and is the commonest of all 
such genetic diseases in the Caucasoid populations of Western Europe and 
North America. Super has detected and documented a frequency of the 
disease among Caucasoids in South West Africa which is considerably higher 
than that found anywhere else in the world. An investigation of 
the ways in which the disease in South West Africa may 
differ, clinically or pathologically, from that found elsewhere, is necessary. 