Steroid Responsive Meningitis (SRM)
Steroid Responsive Meningitis (SRM) has recently surfaced as a disease in Wirehaired Pointing Griffons (WPG) with at least one breeding showing a significant number of affected offspring.
SRM, a systemic, immune disorder, is also know by other names such as beagle pain syndrome, necrotizing vasculitis, aseptic suppurative meningitis, and more. This disease is over represented in some breeds, but not enough data has been gathered for establishment of levels of occurrence in the WPG. The condition can either be acute or chronic, and is usually characterized by episodes of profound spinal pain, depression, stiff gait and fever. There is no definitive genetic nor clinical test for SRM. The prognosis for SRMA is fair to good, especially in dogs with acute disease that are treated early. Your veterinarian should be consulted if your dog develops any of the above symptoms. Although these symptoms can indicate many other diseases or injuries, due to the difficulty in diagnosis, SRM should not be overlooked.
Recommended Reading
These are only two of the many papers on SRM. For more literature, check the References at the ends of these papers.
Tipold, A. and Schatzberg, S. J. (2010), An update on steroid responsive meningitis-arteritis.