VIP AND THE “IDIOPATHIC” WORD
In the aftermath of the publication of the VIP Paper (and since) many breeders have claimed that our use of the word “idiopathic” rules out a certainty that the disease has a genetic component. Whilst it may be convenient for breeders to deny inheritability of health problems in their stock their argument is based on the common misconception that “idiopathic” means “we do not know”
No – in medical terminology – it simply means that not all processes can be fully understood.
Indeed, in some conditions (epilepsy especially) use of the word “idiopathic” implies that structural causes (tumours etc) have been ruled out and that an inherited predisposition is likely.
This peer reviewed paper (in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine) is a case in point – with the words “Vizsla” “Idiopathic” and “Inheritance” all appearing in the Article’s Title
All literature confirms that VIP arises as a result of a combination of environmental and genetic factors. In common with other immune mediated diseases VIP requires a trigger to provoke disease incidence in a predisposed individual – and it is this process that is not yet fully understood
Inflammatory Myopathy
For our VIP Paper the “Idiopathic “word was used to conform with the scientific and accepted terminology for Inflammatory Myopathies
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/idiopathic-inflammatory-myopathy
NOTE – the link above is to a GENETIC diseases page and refers to the equivalent GENES that have now been identified in the Vizsla (Dog Leukocyte antigen).