The length of life of the persons who suffer from cystic fibrosis or mucoviscidosis has increased in Moldova. This hereditary disease leads to chronic respiratory diseases, digestion problems and deficient growth. Twenty years ago the persons with such a disease died at an early age, but now the life expectancy of those born after 2010 can be even 50 years, Info-Prim Neo reports. Pneumology Clinic head Svetlana Shchuka, chair of the Residential Pediatrics Department of the State University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics “Nicolae Testemitanu”, said that there are 10 grownups suffering from cystic fibrosis in Moldova at present. Until recently, the eldest person with mucoviscidosis was 25, but not long ago they diagnosed a 40-year-old man with this disease. The man suffered from sterility and the cystic fibrosis was detected during a through examination. He did not know that he was sick as the disease didn’t manifest itself severely. Svetlana Shchuka said that the patients with severe cystic fibrosis, who reached the age of 25, can be named an enormous success for Moldova. “It is 25 years of continuous fight for life. The mucoviscidosis appeared 20 years ago and it is a great success for Moldova to have the 10 adult patients. However, there can be even elder patients, but we don’t know them because the disease does not have severe manifestations. There are men who suffer from sterility and this disease can be one of the major causes,” said the doctor. She also said that the neonatal screening strategy is now being implemented. It allows detecting cystic fibrosis during the first months of life. Moldova will be among the first states that will implement this procedure over the next few years. Until now, this type of diagnosis was used in France and several regions of Russia only. Mucoviscidosis is treated throughout life, but the person does not have limited working capacities. “These persons look well, study and work. There are yet patients in a critical state because the disease was detected late or a serious mutation can make the treatment ineffective. In order to detect the disease among grownups, the family doctors must be trained how to discover it by the sweat test. The parents should know that cystic fibrosis is also called the disease of ‘salty children’ and they can feel the salty taste of the child when they kiss him,” said Svetlana Shchuka. In Moldova there are 54 persons suffering from cystic fibrosis on record, 44 of whom are grownups, while 10 are children.