What is Cystic Fibrosis?
- Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases.
- Cystic Fibrosis affects over 8,500 people in the UK.
- Over two million people in the UK carry the faulty gene that causes Cystic Fibrosis - around 1 in 25 of the population.
- If two carriers have a child, the baby has a 1 in 4 chance of having Cystic Fibrosis.
- Cystic Fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus. This makes it hard to breathe and digest food.
- Each week, five babies are born with Cystic Fibrosis.
- Each week, three young lives are lost to Cystic Fibrosis.
- Around half of the CF population can expect to live over 38 years, although improvements in treatments mean a baby born today could expect to live even longer.
