Health Report Final - Flipbook - Page 32
PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) cont...
2 Clumbers have been iden fied by the Kennel Club Gene cs centre, who have tested as
carriers but have also shown clinical PRA so the gene cs that cause PRA are yet to be
completely established (case report paper pending publica on at me of wri ng). This will
con nue to be an area of high focus for the Health Advisory Panel, and it is strongly
recommended to check all our dogs for clinical PRA on a yearly basis as they get older.
Of the 56 dogs with Embark data available at the me of wri ng 12.5% tested Clear, 51.8%
Carriers and 35.7% tested as Affected (meaning they carried two copies of the gene but
may or may not show clinical signs). These results are made up of both show and working
lines.
Compared to the 500+ PRA results provided by Embark for Clumber spaniels (both show
and working lines) 65% tested clear, 25.8% carriers and 9.2% affected. The results seen in
the popula on tested in the WCSS Embark project were significantly higher than that seen
by Embark currently in the total popula on of Clumber spaniels tested throughout the
world and may be affected by the number of American dogs tested bringing that
percentage down as PRA seems to span both working and show lines in the U.K.
If this is representa ve for the breed then it may be that the faulty gene is widespread
within the popula on however the fact that we do not find large numbers of Clumbers
with sight loss a ributable to PRA then it may be that, as with the Dachshunds, a second
faulty gene is needed for the dogs to develop the condi on.
In Dachshunds with the same gene, prevalence is 5% "gene cally affected" in miniature
long hair Dachshunds, 14% " Gene cally Affected" in miniature short haired Dachshunds.
3% " gene cally affected" miniature wire-haired dachshunds. Clinical signs are seen in
around 0.3%.
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