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Researchers make breakthrough in hearing loss

Tuesday 5th February 2013
Researchers in the US claim to have made progress in coming up with a way of preventing the effects of Usher syndrome, which can cause patients to suffer from hearing loss and blindness.
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Researchers at the Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago claim to have made a breakthrough in finding a way of preventing a condition responsible for causing hereditary deafness.

Usher syndrome is the leading cause of hearing loss and blindness in the world and affects approximately one in 6,000 babies born.

It is caused by defects in their genetic code, which in turn prevents the patient's body from producing a protein known as hormonin and means they cannot grow the tiny hairs in the ear that are needed to detect sound. It also has a similar effect on the eyes within some patients.

But tests on mice suggest that the injection of a "genetic patch", could cause the effects of the genetic mutation to subside.

For the first couple of months the mice managed to regain almost normal hearing in the lower frequencies, but it had started to deteriorate by six months.

It means that a treatment for humans could be a while away yet.

Dr Ralph Holme, head of biomedical research at Action on Hearing Loss, said: "More research is now needed to understand how this new therapy could be used to treat this particular type of Usher Syndrome in humans and discover whether vision can also be rescued."

Written by James Puckle

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