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

KJ, who was born with a genetic disorder that kills half of affected babies in infancy, is now doing well, doctors said Photograph: handout

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.