According to a story in the Mirror, scientists believe that a cure for deafness could be 5-10 years away.
The story says:
Scientists believe they are on the brink of a cure for congenital deafness. Researchers have produced stem cells to correct the hereditary defect.
They have found a way of growing human cochlear cells which can be used to replace faulty ones in people deaf from birth due to a genetic error. They hope a treatment could be available to patients within five to 10 years.
Professor Kazusaku Kamiya, a specialist in ear diseases who is leading the research, which was published in the journal Stem Cell Reports, said: “I am very excited by what we have done.
“We hope this work will lead to a cure for a form of hereditary deafness. “We have found a way to make cochlear stem cells.
“The next step is to find a way to safely inject them into the patient’s ear. It is possible a therapy could be available within five to 10 years.”
The work, which is being carried out in a laboratory at Juntendo University in Tokyo, Japan, aims to correct a mutation in a gene called Gap Junction Beta 2. This accounts for deafness or hearing loss for one in a thousand children.
In some parts of the world mutations of this gene are responsible for as many as half the instances of congenital hearing loss.
Read the full story here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/scientists-believe-found-cure-deafness-9298845
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Reg Cobb
November 22, 2016
The next thing they’ll come up with is a cure for black people! It’s hard-breaking to see deaf community dying away!!
We’ll have this story soon;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1248754/Last-member-65-000-year-old-tribe-dies-taking-worlds-earliest-languages-grave.html
Very similar to this;
http://www.bslzone.co.uk/watch/zoom-focus-end/
Chris b
November 22, 2016
As someone who carries a defective gene that causes deafness i am especially keen for this therapy to work…not so much for myself but for future generations of my family.
It was heartbreaking to me to discover my child was deaf at a time when i hadn’t even come to terms with my own disability.
I sincerely hope that these breakthroughs are supported by the deaf community and not just dismissed as some kind of attack on our “right” to be deaf