Defining postpartum uterine disease in cattle.

Defining and diagnosing postpartum clinical endometritis and its impact on reproductive performance in dairy cows.

Clinical evaluation of postpartum vaginal mucus reflects uterine bacterial infection and the immune response in cattle.

This paper reviews the causes, impact, treatment, and prevention of retained placenta (RP), metritis, and endometritis in dairy cows. The occurrence of each of these diseases largely depends on immune function in the transition period. Retained placenta affects 5-10% of calvings and greatly increases the risk of metritis and endometritis. More field studies are needed to validate criteria for treatment of metritis, but cows with at least two of RP, fever, dullness, and fetid uterine discharge appear to merit treatment with systemic antibiotics. Clinical endometritis affects 15-20% of cows at 4-6 weeks postpartum; an additional 30-35% have subclinical endometritis between 4 and 9 weeks postpartum. Under specific conditions, treatment of cows with endometritis improved pregnancy rate. Systematic use of prostaglandin F(2alpha) at 5 and 7 weeks postpartum may improve pregnancy rate. The economic benefit of efforts to identify and treat endometritis is herd-specific.

M. J. W. Dohmen

Papers

The relationship between bacteriological and clinical findings in cows with subacute/chronic endometritis

Uterine bacteriology, resumption of cyclic ovarian activity and fertility in postpartum cows kept in large-scale dairy herds