GREAT NEWS! DNA Test for Degenerative Myelopathy - Page 9

My dog is one of the "not listed" yet carriers,  so that accounts for one of them.

Heather

Just got the OFA results back on my dogs. 6 out of 7 are normal. My older male, Fantom Vom Haus Berg is a carrier.  http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/409960.html He has some very well know Working dogs in his bloodline. Interesting though as his Daughter is "Normal"   and her Maternal Grandmother was suspected of having DM. Norma  

6 clear out of 7 is pretty darned good IMO. The original statistics I saw suggested that around 75% of GSD's would probably test as carriers.

I just had a chance to read through all of this. The info that Marjorie has communicated is correct. I work at UF in Clinical Pathology and deal with all your specimens. I speak to Dr Clemmons  quite often. He is fully aware of what the implications are of the DM diagnosis and why everyone is so hopped over getting accurate results. The %'s cited are also correct. That's his big thing - there are many other diagnosis that can appear as DM or the animal can be "positive" for DM but the symptoms are related to something else. From what I have seen so far, a lot of the owners are far more savvy than their vets. Oh, as an aside - when the samples are sent, PLEASE remind the person packing it up to really pad the tubes. I get a number that broken in transit...then I have to call the vet and the animal has to be redrawn, and....and....

Flygirl, do you know why the results of the Flash test are no longer listed on the OFA website?

So you are saying that Clemmons thinks 75% of the GSD population carries the DM gene recessively?

I don't why those results came off. That's an OFA thing.

The 75% number is a "what if" type of thing. To take a quote from one of the postings above:

In my discussions with Dr Clemmons, he has told me that If carriers are detected and the incidence is 75% of the breed while only 2% get the disease, there is no way to eliminate the disease from the DM Flash test or the gene test alone. You would have to remove between 25 and 75% of the dogs; to prevent 2% from getting the disease.

In order to get an accurate "accounting" of what the real numbers are, with the technology in plan we have currently, we have to get 100% of the dogs tested to be able to map the incidences. That's where the problem lies.

Gotcha, thanks. Maybe the percentage of carriers is not as high as first thought?

Ah, from your mouth to God's ears!!!! Hopefully that's the case...

That would be the best possible scenario, wouldn't it?

I am dumbfounded that the OFA removed the Flash test!!!  I am going to have a nice little coversation with them, today. This is just plain unacceptable! Is this like being for something, before you are against it? There is just no room for politics when dealing with DM.  I am going to take a deep breath, compose myself, and then talk to the OFA.