What does Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia mean?
Primary means that there is no cause from the outside. It is something you inherited. Ciliary indicates the cilia which is Latin for vibrating hairs. A number of locations in a human body have vibrating hairs, such as the airways and the reproductive system. Most of our airways contains cilia. A part from cilia is also mucus. Inhaled dust comes on top of the mucus. The cilia perform a beating move, causing the mucus, including the dust particles, to move into the direction of the throat. This way the lungs are kept clean and are enabled to perform well. Cilia are very small, i.e. smaller than 1/100 of a millimeter and thinner than 1/1000 of a millimeter. Therefore they can only be observed through a microscope. Dyskinesia Dys-ki-nes-ia means badly moving or disordered motility. Summarized: PCD is a congenital disease which shows badly moving cilia. What is PCD? The cilia in the airways perform cleaning. By making the “wave” they wipe away small particles and bacteria which are sitting
