**7. Conclusions**

Bacterial infections of CF patients have been a cornerstone of treatment for decades, and that will not change going forward. Future efforts will be focused on finding alternative treatments that will be able to affect both planktonic and biofilm associated organisms in the lungs. This aspect of bacterial growth is most likely the key to effectively remove the organisms from the CF lung and improve the overall life expectancy for these patients. Already, great advances have been made in the last thirty years, as evidenced by not only the number of new and varying treatments, but also by the increased average life span for CF patients (40.7 years) [4]. While some research will still be focused on finding a way to directly treat the CFTR mutation, short-term research needs to be focused on discovering new and innovative treatment options.
