Cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis affects around 10,000 people in the UK and over 90,000 worldwide: July 2015

Cystic fibrosis affects around 10,000 people in the UK and over 90,000 worldwide. Patients’ lungs become filled with thick mucus and they are vulnerable to recurrent chest infections, which eventually destroy the lungs. The gene mutation that causes cystic fibrosis was identified in 1989. This discovery opened the door to new treatments to repair the damaged gene. Current therapies have improved life expectancy for patients but are focussed on treating the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause.