Are Westies better off today because of the Foundation?
by Bob McCaskill, DVM, MPH, DAVCPM

Fall 2002, NEWS

I was taught in veterinary school that modern medicine began late in the 1930s with the discovery of the antibiotic penicillium. For the first time, man had a drug that killed disease-causing bacteria. It was the "silver bullet."

Unfortunately bacteria developed resistance to the drug. Some humans and animals developed allergic reactions to the drug. However, it did allow the medical profession to fight diseases that otherwise would result in death.

Medical research in the 1960s produced new killed and modified live vaccines. Distemper and hepatitis have almost been eliminated in dogs in this country. That decade also produced new antibiotics that affected selected bacteria. We felt that we now had the tools - vaccines and antibiotics - to be the "silver bullets" to wipe out disease. Acute diseases seemed something of the past. Chronic diseases and cancer were the targets of the day. The "Green Revolution" gave us the capability to grow more food on less land. Smallpox was eliminated worldwide. However, parvovirus - a new virus - started killing dogs. Malaria caused, and still causes, the most deaths and economic losses than any other disease in the world.

Early in the 1980s, a new disease "AIDS" was identified. It was significant because it attacked the very cells that man’s body-defense system relied upon to combat disease. No antibiotic would kill it. No vaccine would protect against it. Twenty years later the epidemic continues with more than 44 million humans infected with the disease. World health agencies have spent billions of dollars on research for the causation and cures. AIDS research has produced information and science. Yet it has not produced a "silver bullet."

AIDS research has improved our understanding of the body’s immune system and immunology. It has unraveled DNA and RNA that are life’s building blocks. Thirty years ago I was taught it was the plasma cell that had something to do with immunology. We had worked out the antigen and antibody reactions. But today, we have T cells, T helper cells, CD4 (helper) T Cells and B and T lymphocytes. We understand the receptor cite of cells in the antigen antibody reactions. We have identified the enzymes that are affected by mutant DNA genes. But we still have not produced a "silver bullet."

As an epidemiologist and medical scientist, I find the observed correlation between a compromised immune system and many of the significant diseases in our breed to be extremely noteworthy: Canine Atopy - an allergic skin disease involving the T helper cell in the immune system; KCS (dry eye) - caused by a known immuno-deficiency disease; primary Addison’s disease - also known to involve the immune system; Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) - related to immune disease in humans. T Helper cells have been identified in the intestinal cells of Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Other significant diseases in our breed affect the musculoskeleton system. CMO, Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, hip dysplasia and patellar luxation are painful diseases that can be controlled and assisted by treatments and surgery. Yet, where is the "silver bullet"?

In the new millennium, the genet-icist working with the immunologist, clinicians, nutritionists and other scientists will, in the next ten years, provide the keys to understanding the disease process. They will continue to identify through the Canine Genome the means of DNA understanding. Mutant genes that cause disease will be identified. DNA tests for these diseases will become available and affordable. The veil identifying carrier and disease free lines will be lifted. Breeding sound and disease free dogs will be possible and expected. Yes, it will happen. Medical and scientific research will provide keys to understanding and knowledge. With each new piece of information more understanding is unlocked from the puzzle.

So are Westies today better off because of the Foundation? You betcha. Almost every dollar you have donated has been placed into much needed research. The Directors have been able to voice our breeds’ concerns to others. The Canine Health Foundation and the Morris Animal Health Foundation now recognize our breed for its support. Veterinarians doing research are now calling us to talk about what they are doing and how we can assist them to do more. These scientists look to you and me to assist them in finding the "keys" to understanding of disease through research. We have allowed scientists to delve deeper into the genetic causation of disease and develop new therapies. In the next two years our Foundation will have committed more than $100,000 to improve the health of Westies. Will we find the "silver bullet"? No. There is no "silver bullet" that can solve the complex and difficult disease issues affecting our breed. If they were simple, we would have eliminated these diseases years before. To eliminate these diseases, we must use "bricks" of knowledge to build a strong wall - one brick at a time. We are already standing on the wall. We are already looking down at what we have done in four short years to improve the health and lives of Westies. To build the wall higher takes your donations and support. Only you can help improve the breed. Only you can help improve the life of a Westie. Only you can help us build the wall of knowledge higher so that someday we will have four walls and a roof housing healthy Westies in a family who loves them very much.