Bacteriological and cytological findings in postpartum dairy cows with subclinical endometritis

Subclinical endometritis is a condition that produces negative effects on lactation yield and fertility of dairy cows during the puerperal period. The objective of the research consisted in the characterization of the uterine microbiota of dairy cows and the identification of pathogens associated with infertility. Differential selective media for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were used for the isolation and identification of bacteria. To establish the diagnosis of subclinical endometritis, 54 animals were evaluated at = 60 days postpartum; cytologically healthy cows (n = 32), cows with subclinical endometritis (n = 22). The microbiological examination was per-formed using samples of cervicovaginal secretions collected from the same animals by vaginoscopy, namely 4 cows with endometritis and 4 healthy cows. Cervico-vaginal secretions were examined microbiologically and the isolates identified included Gram-positive bacteria in percentage of 62.5% and 37.5% Gram-negative bacteria. The highest incidence was reported for Escheri-chia coli (16.66%), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. (16.66%), Staphylococcus spp (14.58%) and Streptococcus agalactiae (12.5%). The prevalence of subclinical endometritis, 40.7% (22/54) was established on the basis of cell ratios (= 5% polymorpho-nuclear cells) assessed following examination of endometrial smears. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile de-termination revealed high susceptibility to florfenicol (93.75%), enrofloxacin (91.66%), marbofloxacin (91.66%) followed by amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (83.33%) and cefquinome (70.83%). Antimicrobial re-sistance to tetracycline (100%), streptomycin (89.58%), colistin (72.91%) and penicillin (68.75%) was reported. In conclusion, the results of this study confirm that the combination of endometrial cytology with the microbiological examination of uterine dis-charges seems to be a good method for the diagnosis of subclinical endometritis, and provides an update of in-formation about the microbiota present in the uterus of dairy cows after parturition, the state of its resistance to antibiotics and the effect on reproductive performance.