Alternative to antibiotic that damages hearing

A safer version of a potent antibiotic that often causes hearing loss has been developed by scientists.

An estimated 20% to 60% of all patients treated with aminoglycoside antibiotics — including newborns — experience irreversible partial or complete deafness.

Now researchers have produced a modified version of one of the drugs that works effectively in mice without causing hearing loss or kidney damage, another common side effect.