Fight against cystic fibrosis

Press, 3 July 1979, Page 13

Fight against cystic fibrosis

The fight against the hereditary disease, cystic fibrosis, is two-fold, according to Professor R. B. Elliot,! head of the pediatric depart-! ment of the Auckland Hospi-! tat. I Research into the most ! common of the severe hered-! | itary diseases found in Euro-j peans continued, but public! awareness of it was limited! !and new cases went undetected in New Zealand each: year, Professor Elliot has [ said. : He said that one child in! 12000 was born with the dislease, and early detection and! 'treatment were vital if sev-l ere lung damage in early life! [was to be prevented. ! The Auckland Hospital’s! jpediatric department is al I world leader in cystic fibr-, osis research. | Professor Elliot was in Christchurch to address the! annual meeting of the! Canterbury branch of the! Cystic Fibrosis Association. | “The situation in 1956 was ; very poor,” he said. “The! great majority of cases did! not reach adult life” how-! ever, it was now possible, through early detection and treatment, for the quality li and quantity of life to beli improved tremendously. [! Medical science had not)' yet found the cause of cysticp fibrosis, which affected the) I respiratory and intestinal !, I systems. I, I The symptoms of the dis- I

Sjease among young children, ; were diarrhoea, chest in-! - fections and failure to gain! , i veight. Treatment included •! physiotherapy. antibiotics,! ■ f and dietary supplements, all! 'of which required what Pro-j : fessor Elliot described as! ! close medical contact. Detection in the first! Jweeks of life was essential,l he said. ■; Statistics indicated that 1 "one New Zealand baby in 20, [born each year had cystipj ifibrosis. “We know the birth: 'rate: we know how many! children should be diag- 1 Inosed, but they are not. all: jon the books," Professor El-I ! Hot said. “Some are still out I I there at present.” Before detection methods [improved half the children: I suffering from the disease! 'were not diagnosed until! they were more than one l [year old, by which time, [most had severe lung dam-f [age, he said. i “Any parent whose child! lis chronically chesty and:! [slow to grow should be i aware of the disease.” ! A method of detection |, (developed at the Auckland!, ( Hospital two years ago is I [used widely in New Zealand! [and overseas. Samples of ap 'baby’s bowel movements on[ : [the fourth and fifth days ofi' [life were required. d ! Research was continuing! !on another method using a!< small blood sample taken [< four days after birth.

i; Another of Professor El -lliot’s research projects hat rthe aim of better dietart I! supplements. particularly 'fatty acids. Experiments done in Denver, using a drip [to administer the acids, were very successful, he said. The more convenient method of I oral ingestion was used in (New Zealand. Professor Elliot said that this project started eight jyears ago and would take (another two or three years Ito complete. He cited one [girl, aged nine, as testimony to the success of the research. She still required (treatment once a month, but (“you wouldn’t think there [was anything wrong with her.” ! Yet another area of re- | search aimed to find carriers ! of cystic fibrosis, and parents whose offspring were ' likely to suffer from the disjease. “This is the hardest nut to [crack,” said Professor Elliot. The parents could be comI pletely healthy. However, [the detection of carriers [might develop as a spin-off [from other research. i Parents who had one child afflicted by the disease [stood a one in four chance !of conceiving a second sufferer, statistics had shown. Professor Elliot does not discount research isolating a cause for cystic fibrosis? “The American Cystic. Fibr-!

osis Society spends tens of millions of dollars in re-j search each year,” he said.! It was always possible that such research could find the exact cause. The study, carried out overseas several years ago, showed that 80 per cent of children diagnosed as suffering from the disease lived to the age of 18. Professor Elliot believes that the age has' now been pushed much higher.