Cystic fibrosis screening in the newborn.
A new technique of measuring stool enzyme activity on dry specimens of faeces from newborn children at 4-5 days of age has detected 3 cases of cystic fibrosis in the first 6000 tests. No known cases of cystic fibrosis have been missed. Additionally, one case of pancreatic achylia of at least 4 months' duration has been detected. It is proposed that the detection of cystic fibrosis by this technique is sufficiently practical to be acceptable as a worthwhile newborn screening programme. The screening test has been in use in Auckland for over a year and is now being set up in Hamilton, Wellington, and Dunedin (New Zealand), and Sydney (Australia).
D002918:Chymotrypsin / Q000032:analysis; D004796:Clinical Enzyme Tests; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005243:Feces / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D013542:Sweat / Q000201:enzymology; D014357:Trypsin / Q000032:analysis
D002918:Chymotrypsin; D014357:Trypsin