Mucus

Question

Good afternoon,
My son was born after 25 weeks of gestation. He is now 4 years old and he continues to have problems with his airways. He had pneumonia, he has been admitted to hospital with RS virus when he was 2 years old, he had many airway infections, whooping cough. Now he has been coughing and coughing since April of last year. He took an inhaled corticosteroid and salbutamol but since last week his coughing has worsened. The doctor listened to his lungs and heard wheeze and gave him new treatment. He has somewhat improved but seems to have a lot of secretions that he has trouble coughing up. He is tiny but this is because of his prematurity. His weight is good and I don’t see anything unusual in his stools. Could this still be CF? I wonder whether I should go see a paediatrician and talk about my worries. Thanks for answering this question.
A worried mother.

Answer

Dear madam,
As you state yourself, your worries that your child might suffer from CF, you should really discuss with your paediatrician. Only he can decide if there is a good reason to think about CF. In addition it is easy to exclude this disease by a sweat test.
In general terms we can state that many children who were born prematurely will suffer from repeated airway infections during their toddler years. These symptoms usually are of an asthmatic nature. And patients with asthma do not only have shortness of breath and wheeze, but also they make more airway secretions. Repeated airway symptoms in ex-premature babies are thus certainly not always due to cystic fibrosis. But in case of doubt a sweat test can bring clarity.
Prof. Kris de Boeck

03.05.2012