UK girl's hearing restored after groundbreaking gene therapy

London: An 18 month old British girl who was born completely deaf is believed to be the youngest person to have their hearing restored after undergoin...

London: An 18-month old British girl who was born completely deaf is believed to be the youngest person to have their hearing restored after undergoing groundbreaking new gene therapy.

Several medical teams around the world including in China and the United States have been trialling similar treatments with good results for hereditary deafness that focuses on a rare genetic mutation.

But UK ear surgeon Manohar Bance said the toddler, Opal, was the first person in the world to receive therapy developed by US biotech firm Regeneron and "the youngest globally that's been done to date as far as we know".

Opal was treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, part of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in eastern England.

Bance called the results of Opal's surgery "spectacular -- so close to normal hearing restoration. So we do hope it could be a potential cure".