Evaluation of Medical and Economical Efficacy of Some Protocols for Treatment of Postpartum Clinical Endometritis in Holstein Dairy Cows

Abstract

Endometritis is one of the most common postpartum diseases which affect daily cows. It causes severe economic losses through increasing treatment cost, days open, service per conception and decrement in milk yield. This study was conducted to evaluate medical efficacy and economic profitability of some treatment protocols for clinical Endometritis. Forty cycling Holstein dairy cows suffering from Endometritis were divided equally and treated as follow: Group 1: cows with presence of corpus luteum (CL) on their ovaries which received PGF2-α. Group 2: cows with presence of CL received PGF2-α + cephapirin (Metricure®) (500mg cephapirin) by intrauterine infusion. Group 3: cows without presence of CL were treated with Metricure® only. Group 4: cows without presence of CL received 100 ml of Lugol's Iodine solution (0.5%) intra-uterine infusion.The results showed that Group-2 animals recorded the fewest days to complete cure and days open and the highest conception rate when compared to other groups. Hematological result at 10th day post-treatment, showed that all the treatment protocols significantly decreased total leukocytic count, neuytrophils%, lymphocytes% and monocytes% except Group-1. Also, all the treated groups recorded significant decrease in serum level of C-reactive protein (CRP) and inteleukin-6 (IL-6). Concerning economical aspect, treatment protocol of Group-2 was the best. In general, treatment with cephapirine (Metricure®) is the best choice for treatment of clinical endometritis in cattle either in presence or absence of CL.