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A UK girl born deaf can now hear unaided, after a groundbreaking gene-therapy treatment.

Opal Sandy was treated shortly before her first birthday - and six months on, can hear sounds as soft as a whisper and is starting to talk, saying words such as "Mama", "Dada" and "uh-oh".

Given as an infusion into the ear, the therapy replaces faulty DNA causing her type of inherited deafness.

Opal is part of a trial recruiting patients in the UK, US and Spain.

Doctors in other countries, including China, are also exploring very similar treatments for the Otof gene mutation Opal has.

Her parents, Jo and James, from Oxfordshire, say the results have been mind-blowing - but allowing Opal to be the first to test this treatment, made by Regeneron, was extremely tough.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68921561