Cystic Fibrosis Research Paper

A Matter of Salt- Cystic Fibrosis Dating back from the Middle Ages, European Folklore warned, “woe is the child who tastes salty from a kiss on the brow, for he is cursed, and soon must die”. These children were considered hexed, with death in childhood being common. Though the cause was unknown at the time, this warning referenced children born with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a disease caused by a gene mutation, changing a protein that regulates the movement of salt in and out of cells. This results in a thick, sticky mucus that affects the respiratory, digestive and reproductive system, as well as the increased salt in sweat that had been noticed in history. It was not until 1938 that the first reference to cystic fibrosis was seen in medical literature. The pathologist Dr. Dorothy Anderson describing the disease “cystic fibrosis of the pancreas”, based on autopsy findings on children who had died from malnutrition (Nick, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to explore the disease of cystic fibrosis; it’s etiology, pathophysiology and symptoms, …show more content…
This helps the patient with airway clearance by loosening mucus. Chest physical therapy can be done within the home by parents, siblings and friends which makes it easily accessible for patients. Clearance techniques and devices can also be used to move mucus out of the lungs (Lewis, 2017, p. 578). One device is high frequency chest wall oscillation which is a vest that the patient wears. The vest vibrates to loosen mucus, and after five minutes the patients stops the machine to cough. The benefit to this device is it can be used independently and is not tiring to the patient. Unfortunately, as the disease progresses, chest physical therapy and pharmaceuticals offer little relief as respiratory failure develops. As a final option, some patients may consider lung