Cystic fibrosis play

Woman- My daughter is curious why your daughter is always in the shade and wears that mask. If you don’t mind me asking, what is wrong with her?
Mother- No, not at all, she has Cystic Fibrosis.Woman- So, what is that?
Mother- It is a hereditary disease.
[Pause]
A defective gene that results in an inability to transport salt in certain kinds of cells in the pancreas.
[End of pause]
Woman-And when does a person to get it?
Mother- It is caused when both parents have a gene defect and they inherit it to the child.
[Pause]
It is an “autosomal recessive disease”. The child will onlyhave cystic fibrosis only if it inherits both of the defective copies of the gene. There is 1:4 chance of this happening.
[End of pause]
Woman- What is the mechanism of this disease?
Mother- It isnot exactly known, but it alters the salt transport and that thickens the mucus in the respiratory system.
[Pause]
This makes the respiratory passages more susceptible to bacterial infection.
[End ofpause]
Woman- How did you know she had it?
Mother- We knew it since she was a year old. We suspected something was wrong as she was losing a lot of weight and couldn’t breathe correctly. We had torun some special sweat tests and then we knew what was causing it.
[Pause]
This disease affects the lungs; it results in repeated cases of pneumonia. Also, the pancreas is less able to producedigestive juices. The disease increases de salt content in the patient’s sweat. At high temperatures this may result in the patient losing too much salt and suffering heatstroke.
[End of pause]
Woman- Sowhat can you do for her?
Mother- We must keep her away from anyone that smokes, as it unnecessarily stains her lungs. We also have to make lung exercises with a special mask as they are oftenuseful.
Woman- Do you have to be very careful about everything?
Mother- We do, we had to move as we lived in Texas which is very hot in the summertime and we have to have a germ-free house and food....