What is Cystic Fibrosis?
• Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases.
• Cystic Fibrosis affects over 9,000 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, two 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.
