Cystic Fibrosis (Mukoviszidose)

Your body produces mucus — that is normal. Mucus protects the airways, moistens the lungs, keeps digestion smooth. In cystic fibrosis, however, the nature of this mucus changes. It becomes thick, viscous, sticky. What should flow, stagnates. What should glide, clogs. The lungs fill with mucus, the pancreas becomes obstructed, the entire organism struggles against a substance that was supposed to be its ally.

Medically, cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease. An altered gene — the CFTR gene — disrupts the salt balance within cells, and with it the consistency of all bodily fluids. The disease often begins in childhood and accompanies a person for life.