Professor Burkhard

Cystic fibrosis is the most common inheritable metabolic disease in Germany. Nevertheless the incurable and fatal disease of ignorance is not always detected early enough. Cystic fibrosis is the most common inheritable metabolic disease in Germany. Nevertheless the incurable and fatal disease of ignorance is not always detected early enough. An error in the genetic material that causes the salt budget which messes up cells, that tenacious mucus obstructed a whole range of vital organs: especially lung, pancreas, liver and bowel are affected. The secretion is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, the consequences are difficulty breathing, digestive problems, pneumonia and severely underweight. Most patients die from the effects of multiple infections in young adulthood. Life expectancy depends strongly on whether the disease is diagnosed early and treated appropriately.

But only every third person concerned, so scientists, estimate visits regularly a doctor. Around 8,000 children, Teenagers and young adults suffer from cystic fibrosis, from today about 600 genetic variants have been identified. Five percent of the population, approximately four million people are characteristic carrier, without knowing it, but externally completely healthy. Only if both parents 7 apply the fatal defect of chromosome and their children inherit it at the same time, breaks from the disease. With the help of a simple genetic test to more than 1000 families, Professor Burkhard identified bottlenose dolphins from the medical school of Hanover the main cystic fibrosis genetic centres in Germany. For the early detection of the disease, it is important to know what mutations occur where and how often. It was also a representative picture of population flows and marriage behavior in Germany over the last 150 years, a genetic historical micro-census. Shall in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia in addition to the most commonly encountered in Germany deltF508 variant the R553X mutation most often on. During the Industrialization came this gene probably in the 19th century with the people\”, Burkhard white porpoises, which migrated in search of work from the Eastern Prussia, and the Polish area of the Russian Empire in the West.