Subclinical Endometritis and Its

Effect on The Fertility of Dairy

Cattle

BY:

Habtamu Kenide

March, 2013

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Introduction

Reproductive performance is one key component of

dairy production and the aim of reproductive management

in cows is …..; so to achieve this goal a cow must be

pregnant 85 days postpartum.

Reproductive disease are the main causes of failure in

reproductive performance of cows, especially those

which affect the uterus such as….

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Cont…

Endometritis is inflammation of the endometrium with

the presence of vaginal discharge… ,while subclinical

endometritis is….

Subclinical endometritis is the most prevalent of all

uterine diseases; it affects approximately 30% of lactating

dairy cows, with the prevalence ranging from 11 to >70%

in some herds.

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Cont…

Therefore the objectives of this paper are:

To highlight the risk factors for subclinical endometritis

To review the diagnostic and treatment options of

subclinical endometritis and

To highlight recent information’s on the effect of

subclinical endometritis on fertility of dairy cattle

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Postpartum period in bovine

Post partum period is the time interval from parturition to complete uterine involution

Postpartum period is divided in to three sub periods. These are:

Puerperal

intermediate and

postovulatory

During the PP period cows are at risk of developing calving related disease such as…..

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Postpartum uterine involution

It is normal process of the post partum uterus to return to

its non-gravid state.

For the cow to return to normal reproduction condition, PP

uterus should be involuted 45-50 days post partum.

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Postpartum ovarian activity and utero-ovarian relationship

Ovarian activity exerts an important influence on the

ability of the uterus to resist or eliminate infections. This

is because during estrus…

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Causes of endometritis

There are many infectious causes of endometritis which

enters uterus at different periods.

Pathogens enter uterus mainly at:

calving process

post partum period and

mating process

Especially at PP period if special care is not given to the

cleanness of the house and the environment cows will

be…….

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Cont…

The most common infectious causes of endometrits are:

Arcanobacter pyogenes

E. coli

Campylobacter fetus

Fusobacterium necrophorum

Bovine Herpes Virus -4 (BOHV-4)

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Predisposing factors of subclinical endometritis

These are factors which makes the uterus of cows….

Some of the known predisposing factors of endometritis are:

Retained Fetal Membrane

Dystocia

Management Factors

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Retained fetal membrane

Placenta is said retained when the placenta

remains attached to the uterine carancules for

more than 12-24 hrs after calving.

It services as a favorable media for many

infectious agents growth and multiplication, which

intern…..

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Classification of endometritis

Endometritis in bovine is classified as clinical and

subclinical.

Subclinical endometritis

It is more economical among other problems of the

uterus.

It usually occurs over a long period of time rather

than progressing quickly as endometritis.

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Effect of subclinical endometritis on fertility of dairy cows

Subclinical endometritis is economically the most important to the dairy industry in that it :

decrease reproductive performance

increased feed intake per lactation

reduced milk yield

increased culling rate

Increase the NSPC

to a lesser extent to the cost of treatment

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Cont…

Increased NSPC

A study on cross breed dairy cows at Debre Zeit showed

that a mean of 2.4 services per conception was required

for cows that were positive for SCE at the 4th week

postpartum where as 1.7 services per conception was

required for cows negative for SCE.

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Diagnosis options of subclinical endometritisThe diagnosis of SCE is very important due to the

economic impact it cause, but…..

Some of the diagnostic methods used for Dx of SCE are:

Ultrasonography

Endometrial Cytology

Endometrial Biopsy

Vaginoscopy

Among these endometrial cytology is …

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Treatment options of subclinical endometritis

In Vet. Medicine to treat animal should…..

For the treatment of SCE the widely used treatments

are:

antibiotic treatment

treatment by prostagldin F2 alpha

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Conclusion and recommendations

Conclusion There are many factors, which will contribute for

the Inability of dairy cows to have maximum

productivity, among these uterine disease such as

endometritis and subclinical endometritis takes the

major part.

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Cont…

Infectious agents that could invade the uterus during

parturition may contaminate the maternal reproductive

tract and lead to uterine disease; therefore, it needs to have

maximum care at the time of calving, for the cleanness of

the calving area and at the time of helping the cow at

dystocia through caesarian section strict sanitation

measures should be taken.

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Cont…

SCE causes great impact on the fertility of dairy

cows in that it causes:

decreased reproductive performance,

increased feed intake per lactation,

reduced milk yield,

increases NSPC and

increased culling rate

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Recommendations

Based on the above conclusions the following recommendations are given:

Proper attention to sanitation and peripartiurent hygiene should be given especially during assisted calving.

The owners must be responsible to keep sanitation ofdairy cows through improved housing system and nutritionto reduce bacterial exposure of cows at parturition andincrease the pregnancy of cows after calving.

Proper diagnosing and treatment measures should be taken to minimize the economic impact of subclinical endometritis.

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