In the 1930s, when cystic fibrosis (CF) was first clearly recognised, it was a disorder that inevitably led to death in early childhood from respiratory failure and malnutrition. Since that time, antibiotic treatment and improving nutrition have brought increasing hope to sufferers from the disorder, so that increasing numbers of children have lived on into adult life. Chaired by Professor John Walker-Smith, and attended by a group of leading experts in field at the time, this transcript discusses the history and development of treatment as a result of the establishment of multidisciplinary teams working at special CF centres. Participants also discussed the role of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the identification in 1989 of the defective gene, which made antenatal diagnosis possible and suggests that gene therapy might become feasible in the future.

Introduction by Professor John Dodge, 140pp, 7 figures, biographical notes, glossary and index.

Christie D A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2004) Cystic fibrosis, Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 20. London: The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL.
ISBN 978 085484 0861