M.E. in Other Animals?

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A Daily Express reader wrote to the paper's Vet, David Grant, asking what causes autoimmune diseases in dogs? What treatment can they be given and what is the outlook? Are there problems to be expected?

His response may be read here

A. Dogs can suffer from many of the autoimmune diseases that affect people. They occur when the immune system fails to recognise certain body tissues as "self" and instead mounts an attack as it would against a virus or infection, for example. This may happen following an infection or, rarely, following treatment with a drug. For the most part the trigget factor is unknown.

The resultant disease depends on the tissue targeted. The most serious one is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which can target many tissues and cause anaemia, arthritis, and kidney disease, among others. I tend to see a more benign form discoid lupus (DLE), which mainly affects the nose. The other diseases I see most of are hypothyroidism, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and a disease of the skin called pemphigus. None of them amounts to more than two or three cases a year.

Treatment involves the use of drugs to suppress the immune system. Corticosteroids are the mainstay. These may not be sufficient and other immuno-suppressive drugs can be added.

The main problem is the possibliity of infection due to weakened immunity. Regukar blood tests are also needed. Many affected dogs can be controlled and some cured.

David Grant, MBE.