Signs & Symptoms

Parents often give doctors the first hint that a baby may have cystic fibrosis by reporting that the infant’s skin tastes salty when kissed.

Other signs include:

	A persistent cough Which sometimes sounds like whooping cough. The cough may be so tenacious that it interferes with the child’s sleep and feeding. Vomiting may also follow a coughing spell.
	Wheezing Which may be mistaken for asthma
	Repeated lung infections Such as pneumonia and bronchitis
	Failure to grow or gain weight In spite of a big appetite
	Frequent bowel movements Which are , bulky, and foul-smelling

Another sign of CF may be a distended abdomen. If this is the only symptom, however, it is unlikely to mean CF, as "pot bellies" in small children are quite common. At times, the youngster’s large bowel movements cause the rectum to protrude (rectal prolapse). Abdominal pain is an occasional complaint, and is the result of gas build-up from incompletely digested food.

Cystic fibrosis is not always recognized in young children - sometimes because the symptoms are not very obvious at first, and sometimes because the chronic diarrhea, breathing difficulties and other symptoms of the disease can be attributed to other causes.

One identification of CF, easily identifiable within the first few days of life, is meconium ileus, an intestinal obstruction which occurs when the bowels are blocked by putty-like intestinal secretions. Abdominal swelling, vomiting and inability to move the bowels result. Many of these cases can be resolved with medical therapy, although in more complicated instances surgery may be necessary.