In the U.S., there are approximately 2,500 new cases diagnosed each year. Currently, there is no cure for CF, but there are many promising new treatments in use and even more on the horizon.
Many people even live into their fifties and sixties.
In order to effectively treat the symptoms of the disease, researchers are constantly trying to understand what causes the problems associated with it. The discoveries that result enable scientists to create new methods of treating the condition. Some of these treatments fight the body's reaction to the symptoms of CF, some treat the disease at the cellular level, while some attack the very gene that causes CF in the first place. Most cystic fibrosis patients are treated with inhalable aerosol solutions. People with CF inhale medications daily to open airways in the lungs, to thin their abnormally thick mucus and to fight the bacteria that cause their recurring lung infections.