Blog on Chicago CF!

CF was first identified in an Arab country in 1958 (Lebanon). Four years later, three other Lebanese children were diagnosed, one with an Arab pedigree going back for four generations. Since then, cases have been confirmed in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Under-diagnosis at child birth is undoubtedly common due to lack of sweat tests and clinical training for the disease. Incidence of occurrence has been estimated at 1:2560 live births (Jordan), 1:3500 (Kuwait), 1:5800 (Bahrain). Although the DeltaF508 and 3120+1G>A mutations have been identified, many other CFTR mutations have been documented, several of them unique to the region. As of the late 1990s, the median survival rate for Arab CF patients was 10.9 years, as opposed to 32 years for North Americans. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Israel, both Jewish and Arab populations in Israel suffer the same incidence of CF live births, 1:5000. Out of a 2001 study of 9,430 healthy Jewish Israeli individuals of 36 countries of origin, the prevalence of CF mutations was 1:19, 1:19, 1:28, and 1:42 for the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, North African, and Eastern Jews, respectively.