Current concepts in genetics. Cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis has attracted the attention of biomedical investigators because it is 
the most prevalent chronic disease inherited in Caucasian children. Carriers of 
the gene leading to cystic fibrosis occur quite frequently in the 
Caucasian population. A major aim in research on cystic fibrosis is 
the development of a test that will offer reliable detection of 
the heterozygote and of the fetus with cystic fibrosis. Considerable numbers 
of patients with this disease are not diagnosed until after death. 
The therapy of patients with cystic fibrosis is still symptomatic and 
includes appropriate diet (or diets), pancreatic enzyme and vitamin supplementation, treatment 
of chronic obstructive pulmonary involvement and chronic infections by antibiotics, physical 
therapy and inhalation therapy, psychoemotional support, and vocational rehabilitation. 