US doctors rewrite DNA of infant with severe genetic disorder in medical first

Gene-editing breakthrough has potential to treat array of devastating genetic diseases soon after birth, scientists say

Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy.

International researchers have hailed the feat as a medical milestone, saying it demonstrates the potential for treating an array of devastating genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after affected children are born.