Who gets CF?
If two people are genetic carriers for CF and they have a child, with every pregnancy there is:
chance that the child will have CF.
chance that the child will be a genetic carrier for CF.
that the child will not have & be a genetic carrier for CF.
Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic condition, which means that people are born with it. It occurs equally in males and females.
To have a child with CF, both parents must be a carrier of the CF gene change. If both parents are carriers of the CF gene change, then with each pregnancy there is:
- a 25% chance of that child having CF
- a 50% chance that child will not have CF but will be a carrier of the CF gene change
- a 25% chance of that child neither having CF nor being a carrier.
In Australia 1 in 2,500 babies is born with CF, about one every four days. About 1 in 25 Australians carry the CF gene change – that’s one million people – and most are unaware that they are carriers. Because carriers of CF are unaffected and show no symptoms, it is hard for them to understand that there is a 25% chance that they can give birth to a baby with CF.
