Latest news with #DanielLawler
Japan Today
6 days ago
- Health
- Japan Today
World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases
A new IVF technique using DNA from three people successfully reduced the risk that eight babies inherited genetic diseases from their mothers By Daniel Lawler and Julien Dury Eight healthy babies have been born in the UK using a new IVF technique that successfully reduced their risk of inheriting genetic diseases from their mothers, the results of a world-first trial said Wednesday. The findings were hailed as a breakthrough which raises hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have children without passing debilitating or deadly diseases on to the children. One out of every 5,000 births is affected by mitochondrial diseases, which cannot be treated, and include symptoms such as impaired vision, diabetes and muscle wasting. In 2015, Britain became the first country to approve an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) technique that uses a small amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA from the egg of a donor -- along with the mother's egg and father's sperm. Some have called the result of this process "three-parent babies", though researchers have pushed back at this term because only roughly 0.1 percent of the newborn's DNA comes from the donor. The results of the much-awaited UK trial were published in several papers in the New England Journal of Medicine. Important reproductive option' Out of 22 women to undergo the treatment at the Newcastle Fertility Centre in northeast England, eight babies were born. The four boys and four girls now range from under six months to over two years old. The amount of mutated mitochondrial DNA -- which causes disease -- was reduced by 95-100 percent in six of the babies, according to the research. For the other two newborns, the amount fell by 77-88 percent, which is below the range that causes disease. This indicates the technique was "effective in reducing transmission" of diseases between mother and child, one of the studies said. The eight children are currently healthy, though one had a disturbance of their heart's rhythm which was successfully treated, the researchers said. Their health will be followed up over the coming years to see if problems arise. Nils-Goran Larsson, a Swedish reproductive expert not involved in the research, hailed the "breakthrough". The new technique offers a "very important reproductive option" for families affected by "devastating" mitochondrial diseases, he added. Ethical review Mitochondrial donation remains controversial and has not been approved in many countries, including the United States and France. Religious leaders have opposed the procedure because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Other opponents have expressed fears it could pave the way for genetically engineered "designer babies". An ethical review carried out by the UK's independent Nuffield Council on Bioethics was "instrumental" in conducting the new research, the council's director Danielle Hamm said Wednesday. Peter Thompson, head of the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which approved the procedure, said only people with a "very high risk" of passing on a mitochondrial disease would be eligible for the treatment. Ethical concerns have also been raised over the use of mitochondrial donation for infertility in Greece and Ukraine. French mitochondrial disease specialist Julie Stefann told AFP that "it is a question of the risk-benefit ratio: for a mitochondrial disease, the benefit is obvious". "In the context of infertility, it has not been proven," she added. Oxford University reproductive genetics expert Dagan Wells observed that "some scientists will be a little disappointed that so much time and effort has, so far, only led to the birth of eight children". Among the children being closely monitored are three that showed some signs of what is known as "reversal", which is still little understood. It is "a phenomenon where the therapy initially succeeds in producing an embryo with very few defective mitochondria, but by the time the child is born the proportion of abnormal mitochondria in its cells has significantly increased," he explained. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
26-06-2025
- Health
- Japan Today
Child vaccine coverage faltering, threatening millions: study
More than half of the world's completely unvaccinated children live in just eight countries, research finds By Daniel Lawler Efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases are faltering across the world due to economic inequality, Covid-era disruptions and misinformation, putting millions of lives at risk, research warned Wednesday. These trends all increase the threat of future outbreaks of preventable diseases, the researchers said, while sweeping foreign aid cuts threaten previous progress in vaccinating the world's children. A new study published in The Lancet journal looked at childhood vaccination rates across 204 countries and territories. It was not all bad news. An immunization program by the World Health Organization was estimated to have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the last 50 years. And vaccination coverage against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, polio and tuberculosis doubled between 1980 and 2023, the international team of researchers found. However, the gains slowed in the 2010s, when measles vaccinations decreased in around half of the countries, with the largest drop in Latin America. Meanwhile in more than half of all high-income countries there were declines in coverage for at least one vaccine dose. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Routine vaccination services were hugely disrupted during lockdowns and other measures, resulting in nearly 13 million extra children who never received any vaccine dose between 2020 to 2023, the study said. This disparity endured, particularly in poorer countries. In 2023, more than half of the world's 15.7 million completely unvaccinated children lived in just eight countries, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study. In the European Union, 10 times more measles cases were recorded last year compared to 2023. In the United States, a measles outbreak surged past 1,000 cases across 30 states last month, which is already more than were recorded in all of 2024. Cases of polio, long eradicated in many areas thanks to vaccination, have been rising in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while Papua New Guinea is currently enduring a polio outbreak. 'Tragedy' "Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available," said senior study author Jonathan Mosser of the U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). "But persistent global inequalities, challenges from the Covid pandemic, and the growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunization progress," he said in a statement. In addition, there are "rising numbers of displaced people and growing disparities due to armed conflict, political volatility, economic uncertainty, climate crises," added lead study author Emily Haeuser, also from the IHME. The researchers warned the setbacks could threaten the WHO's goal of having 90 percent of the world's children and adolescents receive essential vaccines by 2030. The WHO also aims to halve the number of children who have received no vaccine doses by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. Just 18 countries have achieved this so far, according to the study, which was funded by the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance. The global health community has also been reeling since President Donald Trump's administration drastically slashed US international aid earlier this year. "For the first time in decades, the number of kids dying around the world will likely go up this year instead of down because of massive cuts to foreign aid," Bill Gates said in a separate statement on Tuesday. "That is a tragedy," the Microsoft co-founder said, committing $1.6 billion to Gavi, which is holding a fund-raising summit in Brussels on Wednesday. © 2025 AFP
