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Cystic Fibrosis in Children

Cystic Fibrosis in Children

Published on 9 October 2025

Cystic fibrosis

Each year in the UK, more than 160 people, most of them babies, are diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF)

Cystic fibrosis (CF), is a serious, inherited condition that can make it hard for children to breathe and for their bodies to digest food.There is no cure for the condition.

Treatment with medications and physiotherapy eases symptoms but this can be time-consuming and gruelling, sometimes taking as long as four hours per day, which can dramatically decrease children’s quality of life.

Action is funding vital research to help improve the quality of life of babies and children with this condition. Find out more about these potentially life-changing research projects below.

A genetic diagram shows a father and mother as carriers of the CF gene, with possible child outcomes: healthy, carrier, or with Cystic Fibrosis.

What causes cystic fibrosis?

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a faulty gene that a child inherits from both of their parents - it can't be caught or developed.

One in 25 people are carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene, but for a child to be born with cystic fibrosis they have to inherit two copies of the faulty gene – one from their mother and one from their father. Parents who both carry the faulty gene have a one in four chance of having a baby with cystic fibrosis.

Current research

Cystic fibrosis: predicting long-term health outcomes for children with an inconclusive diagnosis

Developing new drug treatments to help improve the lives of children with cystic fibrosis

A small child laying on the floor wearing a brething mask

Improving treatment for lung infections

A major cause of illness and death to cystic fibrosis is persistent chest infections with a bacterium called Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Research is aiming to identify new ways to break them down.

Dr Tanmay Bharat, University of Oxford:

"Our work could open the door for enabling treatments to destroy Pseudomonas aeruginosa, helping children with CF overcome serious and potentially fatal infections.”