Exfoliative Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (ECLE), which is also known as Lupoid Dermatosis is an inherited monogenic (controlled by one gene) disease that has been observed in the German Shorthaired Pointer and Hungarian Vizsla breeds. Symptoms start in the first year of age and include skin lesions, lameness, scaling, erythema (reddening of the skin), erosions/ulcers, scarring, disfiguration, decreased quality of life, progresses to joint pain, oligospermia (low sperm count) in males which progressed to azoospermia (absence of sperm), irregular heat cycles in females. Dogs with this disease have dramatically shortened life expectancies and are generally humanely euthanized upon diagnosis.
The mode of inheritance is autosomal recessive, which means that the disease occur when the puppy inherits two copies of the mutation, one from each parent.
