4 February 2013 Last updated at 21:33 ET By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

A tiny "genetic patch" can be used to prevent a form of deafness which runs in families, according to animal tests.

Patients with Usher syndrome have defective sections of their genetic code which cause problems with hearing, sight and balance.

A study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed the same defects could be corrected in mice to restore some hearing.

Experts said it was an "encouraging" start.

There are many types of Usher syndrome tied to different errors in a patient's DNA - the blueprint for building every component of the body.

One of those mutations runs in families descended from French settlers in North America.

When they try to build a protein called harmonin, which is needed to form the tiny hairs in the ear that detect sound, they do not finish the job.

It results in hearing loss at birth and has a similar effect in the eye where it causes a gradual loss of vision.

Scientists at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, in Chicago in the US, designed a small strip of genetic material which attaches to the mutation and keeps the body's factories building the protein.

Read more:
Genetic patch 'stops deafness'

Comments are closed.