Bacteriological Finding, Vaginal Discharges, and Endometrial Cytology for Endometritis Detection in Postpartum Buffaloes

Abstract

Background: Endometritis is one of the most common diseases in cattle and occurs several weeks postpartum. It causes severe economic losses, including increased open days, calving intervals, and the number of services needed to achieve conception.
Aim of study: This study aimed to demonstrate the incidence of endometritis during 20–30 days postpartum in buffaloes. Moreover, we determined common risk factors that affect the rate of endometritis in these animals.
Methods: A total of 72 buffaloes, aged 3-12 years and at 20–30 days post-calving, were enrolled in this study. All the animals were checked by transrectal palpation, ultrasound, and vaginal secretion collection. A four-grade system (0 = clear mucus, 1 = mucus containing flecks of pus, 2 = discharge including < 50% pus, and 3 = involving > 50% pus) was used to categorize the vaginal secretions of these cows. Endometrial cytology and bacteriological samples were then collected using the cytobrush technique.
Results: Ten of 72 buffaloes (13.8%) had abnormal vaginal secretions (grades 1-3) and indicated clinical endometritis (CE), and twelve of 72 clinically healthy buffaloes (16.6%) had subclinical endometritis (SCE, ≥ 8% PMN buffaloes). Escherichia coli was the most common bacteria isolated from SCE (38.9%) buffaloes. Moreover, E. coli was the major bacteriological risk factor for SCE occurrence. A. pyogenes (28.1%) and E. coli (21.1%) were the most common risk factors for the occurrence of CE. Poor to moderate agreement was found among PMN%, bacteriological findings, and vaginal discharges.Conclusion: The current study showed minimal effects of SCE and the most isolated bacteria on the pregnancy rate of buffaloes, while the study demonstrated CE and A. pyogenes as the main risk factors for the reproductive performance of these animals.