Health & Fitness

WELLNES

Facts About

Cystic Fibrosis

What: An inherited chronic
disease that severely affects
breathing and digestion and
leads to a shortened life
span.

Cause: An abnormal gene
that makes the body produce
thick mucus in the lungs. This
mucus promotes infections
that are often life threaten-
ing. In the pancreas, similar
thick secretions can lead to
serious problems with food
absorption.

Discovery: Francis S. Collins,
M.D., Ph.D., who is currently
serving as National Institutes
of Health director, was a fac-
ulty member at the University
of Michigan 20 years ago,
where he co-discovered the
gene responsible for cystic
fibrosis

Symptoms: Very salty-tasting
skin; persistent coughing, at
times with phlegm; frequent
lung infections; wheezing or
shortness of breath; poor
growth/weight gain in spite of
a good appetite; and frequent
greasy, bulky stools or diffi-
culty in bowel movements.

Mark and Joelie Levine a

Living With
Cystic Fibrosis

How you get it: When both
parents carry the gene,
there's a 25 percent chance
that each child will have CF; a
50-50 chance that the child
will be a carrier like the par-
ents and a 25 percent chance
that the child won't have
the gene. If one parent is a
CF carrier, although no child
will have CF there's a 50-50
chance for each child to be a
symptomless carrier.

Foundation spurs drug, gene therapy research.

ous amounts of ice cream.
"A lot of people have trouble gaining
weight),' he says. To help keep his weight steady,
"I go through half a gallon of ice
ark Levine
cream in three days."
takes nine pills
Levine, a West Bloomfield hus-
to aid his diges-
band, stepfather of two and Chrysler
tion every time he eats.
engineer, has cystic fibrosis (CF)
He spends several
— an inherited, chronic disease
hours a day clearing his
that affects the lungs and digestive
pulmonary tract by using
systems of about 30,000 children
inhalers and wearing a
and adults in the United States and
special vest fitted with
90,000 worldwide.
hoses that shake his
"My goal is to stay as healthy as
whole body. He also exer-
possible to be ready when the
cises vigorously to keep
cure comes," he says.
his lungs pumping.
New drugs allow Mark
So he does a stint on the ellip-
He makes sure to eat
active
life.
Levine to live an
tical every day, plays tennis, in-
high-fat, high-calorie
line skates and mountain bikes.
foods, such as the 1,200-calorie milk shake he
Although not strictly a disorder of
whips up for breakfast, which includes gener-

Judith Doner Berne
Special to the Jewish News

M

European Jews, cystic fibrosis is often
included in an Ashkenazi-heritage screening
panel since it occurs with the same frequen-
cy in European Jews as in members of the
non-Jewish Caucasian population (approxi-
mately 1 in 3,000), according to the Genetics
Center Inc., Smithtown, N.Y.
"It's the most common genetic disease
that leads to early mortality in the Caucasian
population in this country," says Dr. Richard
Simon, M.D., a University of Michigan inter-
nal medicine and pulmonary disease physi-
cian, who treats adults at the U-M Cystic
Fibrosis Center.

Detection: CF carrier testing
consists of a blood or saliva
test. If both parents are CF
carriers, a baby can be tested
in utero. By Michigan law, all
newborns are tested.

Changing Times

Once, CF victims died in infancy. But recent
breakthroughs in breathing and digestive
treatments allow "people to live longer and
healthier," Dr. Simon says.

Information from March of Dimes

Web site: www.marchofdimes.com

Cystic Fibrosis from page 64

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December 10 • 2009

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