Cystic Fibrosis Quiz


What Do You Know About Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited, often fatal disease of the body's mucus glands. It affects about 30,000 children and young adults in the United States, most of them descendants of people from northern Europe. Find out more about CF by taking this quiz, based on information from the National Institutes of Health.

1. CF affects which body system?
2. How many Americans are carriers of the abnormal CF gene?
3. Which symptom in an infant or young child might indicate CF?
4. What happens to the mucus glands in a child with CF?
5. How is the digestive system affected by excess mucus in CF?
6. How is CF diagnosed?
7. Currently, no effective treatment is available to correct the cause of CF. Doctors can, however, slow the progression of the disease. Which of these types of medication can do this?
8. A defect in a gene that produces the protein cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator is the cause of CF. According to recent research, this abnormality results in an imbalance of which key substance in the body?
9. CF is a genetic, or inherited, disease. How is CF passed down through families?