This can cause a dry, hacking cough, increased rate of breathing and sometimes wheezing. This thick mucus can cause damage to the tissues of the lung causing the child to have frequent lung infections, like pneumonia. Children with CF can also develop gastrointestinal problems. Blockage of ducts in the pancreas that carry digestive enzymes to the intestines results in not absorbing nutrients properly and this can lead to fatty, foul smelling stools, chronic diarrhea and failure to thrive. The heavy mucus also clogs passages in the liver causing disease of the liver.
Children also seem to have a very excessive appetite, but tend to lose weight.
Some people do escape being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when they are children. They might not be diagnosed until their teenage years, and then the only reason they are discovered is because of recurrent lung infections. People that are discovered later in life have very mild symptoms with lung infections maybe being the only clue to the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. At this time there is still no definitive cure of CF and the cornerstones of treatment include reducing lung and breathing obstruction, controlling associated lung infections, and improving nutritional status. Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis Reducing breathing obstruction entails removal or reduction of the viscous mucous secretions that accumulate with this disease.