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Cystic Fibrosis: A Case Study

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Cystic Fibrosis The television must be turned up again to do another breathing treatment or it is time to get tapped before bed. I watch in awe as my little cousin sits there with a shaking vest on, and I wonder what is going on. If it’s time for another meal or if he just wanted a snack, he cannot forget to take his enzymes that he needs to aid in the digestion of food. I again start to wonder what is going on inside and how this little boy ended up with this disease, so I began my search in trying to learn as much about Cystic Fibrosis as I can. As of 2014, Cystic fibrosis (CF) infects about 70,000 people around the world and is known as the most common life shortening disease (Bell 2014). CF is the result of an offspring receiving two recessive alleles from each parent which comprise of a mutation inside the cystic fibrosis …show more content…
One in 25 people carry one CFTR mutation (Vankeergerhen 2002). Although this is considered a rare disease, it isn’t rare to me. I have a prevalence of cystic fibrosis within my family. I have a few close relatives who are diagnosed with this disease, and within my immediate family, my mother and brother are both carries. This then leaves me and my wondering mind. I have had this talk with my mother about what I need to do in the future before I decide to have children. Since this disease is so prevalent in my family, I need to be tested to see if I carry of the allele as well. This not only affects me, but my partner. My partner would need to be tested to see if there was any chance the offspring would be getting two recessive alleles. This has given me a focus on what rare disease are. As a scientist I recognize the importance of needing to understand the underlying causes of rare disease. Although CF affects a small portion of the population, the people and families that are affected by it are impacted

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