Dr Lancelot Pinto, senior respirologist, P D Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, provides key facts on this difficult disease from which Ustad Zakir Hussain died on Sunday.
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) causes the thickening or stiffening or scarring of the lungs.
Like cancer, IPF has no established cause. Only smoking is suggested as a contributing cause but not a positive cause.
It is not a lifestyle disease and good daily habits will not prevent it.
It is not curable, which is why tabla maestro Zakir Hussain died of it at the age of 73. But drugs are available to slow its progression and those diagnosed with it can live with the disease for five to seven years.
There is no established connection between poor air quality and IPF.
There are non-idiopathic types of pulmonary fibrosis as well, some caused by drugs, exposure to pigeons, rheumatoid arthritis or are an autoimmune disease.
Idiopathic is very easy to diagnose. See a doctor if you experience breathlessness or have a long-standing, lingering cough.
Read more about what Dr Lancelot Pinto has to say about the disease: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: What Killed Ustad Zakir Hussain