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GSD BREED COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN |
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GSD
HAEMOPHILIA ‘A’ SCREENING SERVICE
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It is fifteen years since GSD breeder John Allinson (Pearlsyde GSD) worked with the GSD Breed Council to organise and set up a blood testing service to detect haemophilia ‘A’ that breeders could use to ensure that they were not using affected males in their breeding programmes. Around that time, there was much controversy surrounding a widely used male dog that had been imported from Germany that was subsequently found to be a haemophiliac when his second generation male offspring (through his daughters) started presenting with bleeding disorders. John is a clinical scientist who had spent all his career in clinical pathology services – the discipline that performs these tests routinely in humans in hospital laboratories all over the world. He set up the service from a laboratory at home on the same principles of labs. that routinely perform these types of tests sent through the post. Up until a year ago, this service had been working well, but following his last house move he has found the UK postal service is not able to deliver the delivery timelines required to keep the service viable. Many sample collection kits sent to the scheme’s users have gone missing as have many samples that were collected and returned for analysis. Other samples have arrived severely delayed – sometimes months! John took the decision to move the service to Idexx following a similar decision a few years ago with his Pearlsyde fertility services when his working commitments meant he could not support the day to day needs of his clients. Idexx receives large numbers of samples for lots of different tests every day and does not experience the same postal difficulties that John’s remote location now suffers. The fertility services have proven Idexx’s commitment to these breeder services and he has 100% confidence in their ability to maintain a continuity of the service as it used to be. The scheme will operate in exactly the same way as previously, and users of the scheme will still have their dog’s results entered on to the Breed Council’s database. The same ID confirmation and disclaimers as used with the KC/BVA hip scoring scheme are in place and all original forms submitted to the scheme will continue to be retained by the Breed Council.
People wishing to use the scheme can |