How is the disease diagnosed?

Cystic Fibrosis is in a way a very “easy” disease to diagnose.  Now, I am not saying that it his easy but I am saying there are about 3 ways that can lead doctors to be able to diagnose the disease.  The first way that doctors can detect Cystic Fibrosis is in newborns.  Doctors can measure the amount of the protein, Trypsinogen, in the patient’s blood.  The level in the blood stream is higher than normal in a person with Cystic Fibrosis.  Another way is a genetic test that can identify a bad CFTR gene using a blood sample.  The third way is a sweat test.  Doctors can take a sample of the patient’s sweat from there arm or leg and measure the amount of salt (Sodium Chloride) in the sample.  People that have Cystic Fibrosis have between 2-5 times the normal amounts of salt in their sweat.