CF carriers

My boyfriend had a younger brother who died at age 4 from CF. Both of his parents turned out to be carriers of the diseasel, and I'm just wondering what the chances are of my boyfriend being a carrier and passing it on to his future children. I have looked up some information, but I was wondering if they, meaning the medical community, have discovered a way of isolating the gene to prevent it from passing? Please let me know, thanks.

It takes two people -- two carriers to get CF.

Both you and your boyfriend could be tested to see if you're both carriers if you're planning to have children. If one of you is not a carrier -- then no worries. If both of you are carriers then there is a 25% chance that your child could have CF; however, you could go through pregenetic implantation diagnosis (PGD) and the fertilized eggs could be tested to see if they have CF and then have the egg(s) that do not have CF implanted, through invitro fertilzation. The PGD isn't spendy, but the IVF can be....

thanks for the info rata! I have CF and we need to get my husband tested for carrier before we decide to have children. It's good to know someone else has heard of the in vitro thing. I thought maybe somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I had made it up or something because I couldn't remember where I heard it.

Houston-

I have a 2 yr old son w/CF- my husband & I are carriers (neither one of us has CF). I thought I would never have another child because to me, the risk was too great.

In June we found out about PGD w/ IVF and were amazed to find out that we could, with almost 100% accuracy conceive a child without CF. I was able to write a letter to my insurance company (when may plan didn't have an IVF benefit at all) and they paid for just about everything.

We're expecting in March!

Good luck to you