GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine are investigating a possible treatment for a group of rare eye diseases that can lead to vision loss.
Working with animal models, the researchers successfully used viral gene therapy to suppress the expression of a mutant gene involved in retinitis pigmentosa.
The next step is to get the support necessary to conduct human trials.
“Our hope is that we can start these trials with children actually so that we prevent blindness early on so that children learn to see the world and learn to read and function in the world,” said Dr. Alfred Lewin, a Ph.D. in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
The researchers also made an unexpected discovery during the experiments that treating one eye with gene therapy also benefitted the animal’s untreated eye.
The findings were published in the journal “Vision Research.”
Cases of respiratory syncytial virus or R.S.V., are starting to level off.
Over the last two years, R.S.V. cases have hit irregular highs.
Last season, cases started spreading in June and peaked in November but the year before that the season started in May and lasted through January.
The CDC said the virus is now starting to follow a seasonal pattern again.
R.S.V. can cause severe illness and death in young children and older adults.
Several drug makers are racing to get a vaccine to market.
And health care costs are becoming a top concern for Americans.
A new Gallup poll shows that 54 percent of Americans say they worry a great deal about the availability and affordability of health care.
That’s 5 percent higher than last year.
Concerns about drug use and social security also increased but inflation and the economy remain the top two concerns for Americans.