(2 of 2)
Dr. Royce, who has studied and worked with both Dr. Shwachman and Dr. Ander sen, puts it this way: "The main hurdle is clearing the chest. For that, we had sulfadiazine first, then penicillin, and each new antibiotic has offered a little more hope. The newest wrinkle is an aerosol with antibiotics, and we are working on plans for home treatment with aerosols three or four times a day, using a small air compressor and mask, which cost $75 to $100. In any case, it is an expensive disease: antibiotics for one patient average $40 a month. The parents of these kids are mostly broke."
All the antibiotics help to protect the child against lung infections, but aureomycin and terramycin seem to have the further power to stimulate growth. With a highprotein, low-fat diet, plenty of fruit (especially bananas for calories), lavish dollops of vitamin A, and preparations like pancreatin (intended to replace the missing enzymes), most patients win a new lease on life. Their bodies use fuel more efficiently, and they gain weight. It is a good sign when they begin to eat less, Dr. Shwachman notes in a pamphlet now being distributed to patients' parents.
Pancreatic fibrosis once 'seemed to be exclusively a disease of childhood because no known victim survived to adulthood.
Now, doctors are finding more cases of a milder type, and are successfully controlling the disease in patients well into their teens, and sometimes beyond. The main thing, researchers believe, is that doctors everywhere should suspect cystic fibrosis in the case of any young child who has a persistent cough. If fluid is collected from the duodenum and found to be low on enzymes, the doctors have found another case of this puzzling malady.
*In Los Angeles, seven-year-old triplets provide geneticists with valuable evidence: two are girls and identical twins, and have cystic fibrosis, while their brother (from a different ovum) is as healthy as any kid on the block.