ABSTRACT
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic, progressive, and one of the most common fatal genetic diseases in humans. The term
cystic fibrosis
was first used in 1938
for the fibrotic phenotype of the pancreas. However, the disease is now well recognized to present the pathophenotypes in many other organs of the body. It causes the body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, leading to infection; reproductive ducts, causing infertility; and the pancreas, stopping digestive enzymes from reaching the intestine where they are required to digest food. The median age at diagnosis is 6 months and nearly two-thirds of the individuals are diagnosed before 1 year of age.
