About Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease affecting approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States . CF occurs in approximately one of every 3,900 births.

More than 10 million Americans are unknowing, symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene. An individual must inherit two defective CF genes -- one from each parent -- to have CF. Each time two carriers conceive, there is a 25 percent chance that their child will have CF; a 50 percent chance that the child will be a carrier of the CF gene; and a 25 percent chance that the child will be a non-carrier.

CF occurs in approximately one of every 3,200 live Caucasian births (in one of every 3,900 live births of all Americans). About 1,000 new cases of CF are diagnosed each year. More than 80 percent of patients are diagnosed by age three; however, nearly 10 percent of newly diagnosed cases are age 18 or older.