Words and Music, Medical and Other

Cystic fibrosis – a  Medical Education in one disease. How getting to understand cystic fibrosis can help the trainee medic understand a lot more about human health. This article takes one from evolutionary genetics to global health, all through the example of this multi-system inherited disease. Read this article with your medical dictionary at hand. I hope soon to link all the important words with other online resources. Watch this space.

A Medical Education

THE ELEMENTS

 Salt.

A goodnight kiss and my heart is torn again –

The taste of tears.

 

Water.

The well of life trapped within you.

My eyes have run dry now.

 

Light.

Oh, that runs forth in rivers from you –

Shimmering in my eyes.

 

Blood.

Blood of my blood.

A joy tainted.

 

Sweat

Seven days out of seven you labour,

The mark of Cain visible on your brow.

 

Air.

Fly, swoop, soar in it: fight for it,

My breath of life.

 

 

You can find an article on the epidemiology of CF in South Africa at http://www.sajch.org.za/index.php/SAJCH/article/view/48 . The epidemiology of CF among black Africans is not at all clear. More and more cases are being identified (e.g. http://samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/viewFile/1092/547 ) but not nearly as many as predicted in the only study to look at CFTR mutations in black populations in Africa – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1762947/ . Is the study wrong in its predictions or is the phenotype of CF different? Very few black CF patients are being seen with meconium ileus, for example. In other populations about 15% of cases have MI.

The most comprehensive view of the CFTR mutations found in the CF patients in South Africa was published from Johannesburg by Goldman and colleagues: http://www2.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/viewFile/2255/1522