Cystic Fibrosis in India- Need for Study

Cystic fibrosis in earlier days was described as “Cystic fibrosis of Pancreas” in a child. The word cystic fibrosis was coined due to the characteristic cysts and fibrosis found in the pancreas. It was a leading cause of mortality in the people of northern Europe in the 16th century. In the early years of cystic fibrosis, it was known that if the fingers of the child tasted salty after rubbing the forehead, it was going to die soon. The classical description of cystic fibrosis was first reported in a child by Andersen [1], Physician and Pediatric pathologist in 1938. The inheritance of cystic fibrosis was described as an autosomal recessive by Lowe et al. [2]. Farber recognized that the sticky mucus caused many of the symptoms and, hence, labeled it as “Mucoviscidosis” in 1945 [3].