A 1975 global data analysis on blindness reveals the shocking number of 28 million blind people across the world. And it has been estimated that the rise in global population and ageing would leave 58 million blind in 2010 and 75 million blind by 2020!
With the advancement of medical sciences, newer attempts are being made across the world to curb global warming. Eventually, a British hospital has made the world’s first attempt to treat blindness in a revolutionary way – by using gene therapy!
Surgeons at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, has treated Robert Johnson suffering from inborn rare sight disorder — Leber’s congenital amaurosis – by inserting genes into one of his eyes!
Having mixed feelings before surgery, Mr Johnson told BBC,
It’s very difficult to say how I’m feeling. I keep ranging from extreme nervousness to a bit of excitement.
Keeping their fingers crossed, to find the success of the new therapy’s first clinical trial, the scientists hope that the therapy could be used in treating a wide range of inherited sight disorders both in adults and children.
Perhaps, following the footsteps of gene therapies use in treating different cancer types, the researchers hope their gene therapy’s intervention in humans would one day, give way to treating more common sight problems.
This may give way to reducing age-related macular degeneration, affecting about 250,000 Britons.
Photo: timesonline