Prevalence of subclinical endometritis in dairy cows that recovered after treatment of clinical endometritis with cephapirin and PGF2α

Abstract

The aims of our study were to evaluate (1) the prevalence of subclinical endometritis (SE) in clinically cured cows after treatment of clinical endometritis (CE) with uterine cephapirin infusion or with systemic application of PGF2α and after self-healing, (2) the prevalence of SE in clinically cured cows in relation to the type of vaginal discharge. The study was conducted on 222 Polish Holstein Friesian cows with CE diagnosed by vaginoscopy and ultrasound. The animals were randomly allocated to one of three groups: Group 1 (n = 72): intrauterine cephapirin infusion; Group 2 (n = 73): single intramuscular injection of dinoprost; and Group 3 (n = 77): left untreated as a control. All cows were reexamined two weeks later (Exam 1). If there was still CE at this examination, these cows were treated using the same method as previously and were examined 2 weeks later (Exam 2). Cows still having CE at the second examination were examined two weeks later (Exam 3). Cows without signs of CE at Exams 1, 2 and 3 were considered cured, and endometrial samples from the uteri were collected by cytobrush to diagnose SE using cytological evaluation of PMN percentage. The threshold for SE was set at ≥ 5% PMNs. Two cows each from Groups 1 and 3 and three cows from Group 2 were not clinically recovered at Exam 3 and were excluded from the analysis. In total, SE was diagnosed in an average of 40.9% of clinically cured cows. The prevalence of SE in Group 1, 2 and 3 was 35.0%, 47.1% and 40.0%, respectively (p > 0.05). There were significantly higher (p < 0.05) SE cases after treatment of CE associated with purulent vaginal discharge than with mucopurulent discharge. In relation to the method of treatment, the prevalence of SE was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in cows treated with cephapirin with purulent vaginal discharge than with mucopurulent vaginal discharge. In conclusion, the study showed a high prevalence of SE in cows clinically cured after treatment of clinical endometritis with cephapirin or PGF2α and after self-healing. The prevalence of SE was significantly higher in cows with purulent vaginal discharge than with mucopurulent vaginal discharge. Therefore, in cows clinically recovered from clinical endometritis, the prevalence of SE should always be considered a negative consequence, and the resulting management of this uterine disease should be implemented at the herd level.