PROGRESS IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS
RUSTIN MCINTOSH M.D.
OUR concept of a particular disease has a capacity for growth and development comparable to that of an animate creature. In some instances the clinical picture of a specific illness was known to the ancients and has undergone little amplification in thousands of years. Tetanus, of which Hippocrates provided a clear and still valid description, is such an example. In other instances new entities, first described only recently, may take on fresh aspects quite rapidly as experience extends their dimensions and clarifies their characteristics. Of the many examples which come to mind none is more instructive and, in a sense, more humbling than cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, fibrocystic disease, or mucoviscidosis–whichever term you wish to use.
