International researchers say they have identified a gene that causes Usher's syndrome, which causes its victims to become deaf and blind.

The researchers, who published their work in the science journal Nature, said the discovery was a step to finding a way to treat the syndrome, which affects about half of those who become deaf and blind."Children with Usher's type one . . . are born with a severe hearing impairment and they also have a balance problem, which means they are late to start to walk," said Dr. Karen Steel, a geneticist at Britain's Medical Research Council who worked on the study.

"Usually before they are 13 they have signs of (damage to the retina) . . . they get progressively more blind as they grow older." There is no treatment for the disease.

British scientists identified the gene in specially bred mice, then shared their findings with researchers at Boys Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, Neb., who had been working to identify the gene in humans.

French scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris also took part. "It only took them a few months once they had our research," Steel said.

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But the entire process had been painstaking and would continue for years, because at least seven genes were believed to be linked to the syndrome, she said.

"There are two steps in identifying a gene," Steel said in an interview. "The first step is finding where on the chromosome it is."

The researchers had done this in 1990, but it took five more years to find the gene itself.

Steel said it would be years before doctors could even start work on possible treatments.

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