Cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (C.F.) is a serious genetic disorder occurring mainly among the 
Whites and starting in early childhood or even at birth. The 
name is a shortening of the old term Cystic Fibrosis (or 
Fibrocystic disease) of the pancreas. This comes from the historical appearance 
at post-mortem first described by Landsteiner in 1905. It was only 
in 1938 that Dorothee Anderson and Fanconi realised that the disease 
was a separate entity and not simply a manifestation of other 
illnesses. Another name is Mucoviscidosis which gives a clue as to 
one of the most important features of the disease. Mucus formed 
is thicker and stickier (more viscid) than normal and tends to 
clog up the bronchi and ducts, particularly the pancreatic ducts. Chronic 
bronchitis with recurrent severe infection and malabsorption are the main symptoms 
of the disease. The other important abnormality is an increased amount 
of sodium chloride (salt) in the sweat. This fact, used in 
the diagnosis, was first realised during a heat wave in New 
York in 1953 when it was noticed that most of the 
children with heat prostration suffered from C.F. Little is known of 
the causes of the abnormalities of sweat and mucus. Some generalised 
cell abnormality (? enzymatic) seems possible. There is no doubt that 
the condition is genetically transmitted and most evidence favours a recessive 
mode of inheritance. 