Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common inherited diseases, affecting about 1 in 3300 people. it is most common in Caucasians, but does occur in other ethnic backgrounds.
CF causes the body to produce thick mucus leading to pneumonia, diarrhea, poor growth and infertility. Intelligence is normal.
If both parents are carries of a CF gene, each of their children has a 25% chance of having the disease. Carriers are not themselves affected by the disease. If someone in your family has CF, then your chance of being a carrier increases. CF carrier testing requires a small sample of blood.
CF testing cannot find all carriers. If your test results do not show a CF gene, the chance that you are a CF carrier is low, but never zero. If both parents are shown to be carriers, then prenatal testing by chorionic villi sampling or amniocentesis can be performed to determine whether or not the fetus is affected with CF.