Can a newborn be diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis even if there is no family history of the disease?
Yes. The birth of a child with CF is often a total surprise to a family, since most of the time (in eight out of 10 families) there is no previous family history of CF. Since both parents are healthy, they had no prior knowledge that they carried the gene, nor that they passed the gene to the pregnancy at the same time. As in our family there was no known history of cystic fibrosis (CF). Over 20 years contact with other CF families this is often the case. Yet CF is the most common childhood inherited disease. Yearly people are now diagnosed later in life – past 40 years old. One in 31 people are cystic fibrosis gene carriers. If a couple has personal or close family history it is advised for prenatal testing. Even if both parents are CF gene carriers the baby may not be born with CF. Our older children do not have CF our youngest does. Since there are over 1000 gene mutations of CF even with testing a negative screen will not guarantee that a child will not have CF. A person will be bo
