October 2008 - Press release: Research into Hepatitis in English Springer Spaniels

 Lesley Bloomfield and Louise Scott (ESS Breed Clubs Health Co-ordinators) have received the following update from Penny Watson and
 Nick  Bexfield on their work investigating the cause of hepatitis in English Springer Spaniels at Cambridge Veterinary School:

“Hepatitis in the ESS is emerging as a usually severe disease seen most often in young to middle-aged female dogs. It is also recognised in males and older animals, but never to date in a dog over 10 years of age. Nick has been working full time on the project since the end of April and is progressing well. We do not know the cause of the disease, but have a hypothesis from the clinical and pathological appearances that it may be caused by a unique virus which has not been recognised before in dogs (and is not in the usual vaccines). It is important that we rule this out first, before considering other potential causes, and Nick has progressed well developing powerful techniques to look for unknown viruses in dog tissues, and is just moving on to work in dog serum and liver tissue. He needs tissue samples from affected dogs (blood and liver biopsies) to do this and has some already, but needs more. He and Penny would be very happy to hear from any owners of affected dogs to discuss how they may be able to help the project.

At the same time, Nick, Penny and co-workers have been starting to analyse how common hepatitis is in dogs and whether ESS really have an increased ‘breed incidence’. It is possible, for example, that increasing awareness of the condition in the breed society has ‘falsely’ elevated the numbers of affected dogs. Penny completed a study looking at disease prevalence in routine post mortems of dogs put down for a variety of reasons in veterinary practices in the Glasgow area and found a prevalence of chronic hepatitis of 8.5% in that group of dogs (which is a lot!). There were some statistically significant increased relative risks in certain breeds including ESS. At the same time, Nick and a final year student (now graduated) at Cambridge analysed a large sample of dogs diagnosed with chronic hepatitis by pathology laboratories in the UK and also found an increased risk in ESS, i.e. more ESS were affected than would be expected looking at either Kennel Club registrations or pet insurance company data as an indicator of breed popularity. These studies have not been published yet but are being prepared for publication. However, it must also be stressed that hepatitis was seen in a variety of other breeds and also in cross-breeds in both studies, so although ESS seem to have an increased susceptibility to the disease, they are not by any means alone in suffering from it. It may be that hepatitis has different causes in different breeds or it may be that it has the same cause – these are all questions which have yet to be answered.

Following on from these results, a medicine resident at the veterinary school is now helping Penny and Nick to analyse the pedigrees of affected ESS to see whether affected dogs are related to each other and whether there is any evidence of an inherited disease. It is possible to have an increased breed risk of a disease without a very clear, straightforward inheritance, so it is important to obtain this information before we can give any advice to breeders.

So what do we want currently from the Breed? We have been very impressed indeed so far with the enthusiasm and support we have had from all the ESS breeders and owners we have met. At the moment, we are most interested in hearing about affected dogs and getting clinical and pedigree information and (ideally) blood samples and liver biopsies from these affected dogs. At some time in the future, when we have the results of the pedigree analysis and move on to genetic work, we will need samples from normal dogs – which we currently believe would be any ESS over 10 years of age which has not had hepatitis. However, we will put out a call when we need this. Funding for Nick’s study is relatively secure. However, extra funds are always welcome to help gain clinical samples and help with the other studies which are being undertaken in parallel to Nick’s, so we are always very pleased to receive funds raised by breeders and friends to help the research. To facilitate collection and proper use of this money, we have set up a ring-fenced fund in the Kennel Club Charitable Trust to be used specifically for research into ESS hepatitis. Please send any money you wish to donate to this research to: Cas Oakes, Charitable Trust Administrator, The Kennel Club Charitable Trust, 1-5 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London W1J 8AB with a covering letter explaining what the donation is for and we can assure you it will be properly and productively used.

Thank you all for your continuing help. We are as keen as you are to find the cause of this distressing disease as soon as possible and will keep you updated on any developments in news releases given via the Health Co-ordinators and on Breed Club websites”.

Should anyone have any queries, please contact Lesley or Louise.


                                                    Joint Health Co-Ordinators – UK ESS Breed Clubs:

                  Lesley Bloomfield                                                                             Louise Scott
                  Tel: 01923 823579                                                                             Tel: 020 8427 3396
                  Email: lesley@fernlin.free-online.co.uk                                           Email: louise@goldcliffe1.freeserve.co.uk