How could my child have CF?

One of every twenty-nine caucasions in the United States are unknowing carriers of the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis. These people have no symptoms of the disease. It is only when two carriers come together and have children is there a chance of conceiving a child with CF. Each pregnancy between two carriers results in a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with cystic fibrosis. There is also a 1 in 4 chance that the child will not have the disease or be a carrier. The other possiblility (2 in 4) is that the child will be a carrier of the defective gene. The defective gene is recessive, meaning that it can be carried through many generations in a family without an occurrence of the disease.

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