Appraisal of therapeutic efficacy of antibiotics and prostaglandin based protocol in Holstein cattle suffering from acute puerperal metritis (APM)

Acute puerperal metritis (APM) may be defined as an ailment in dairy cow within three weeks of post calving coupled with fetid,putrefied,reddish-brown uterine discharge following elevated body temperature and systemic illness.It is one of the major problems faced by dairy enterprises.Incidence rate ranges from 20-40%.Objectives of this field study were to assess a treatment regimen in dairy cow affected with APM and subsequent reproductive performance.A total of 600 cows were routinely examined from day 2-15 postpartum.Thirty cows with APM were enrolled in treatment and 30 healthy in control group.Cows once diagnosed for APM were subjected to a treatment regimen consisted of Ceftiofur@ 2.2 mg/kg BW for 5 consecutive days intramuscularly from day 4-8 postpartum,intrauterine Cephapirin (500 mg) and prostaglandin I/M (25mg) on d-15 postpartum.Therapeutic cure of cows with APM was defined as absence of fetid,watery,reddish-brown abnormal uterine discharge examined on vaginoscopy and disappearance of loss of appetite,depression and normal body temperature on day 6 after first ceftiofur administration.

Data were analyzed using the SPSS.Independent sample t-test for parametric assumptions and Mann–Whitney test for nonparametric data were used for comparisons between groups. Fisher’s Exact and chi-square tests were performed to test the differences between groups of categorical data (p < 0.05).Continuous variables were indicated separately according to the groups as means ± SD. Vaginal discharge scores (VDS) for treatment (3.37±0.49, 2.37±0.93, 1.60±1.07, 0.37±0.67, 0.20±20) and control groups (1.40±1.13, 1.00±1.0, 0.27±0.64, 0.13±0.43) at different visit days (from V1 to V5) were calculated. Cervical and Uterine sizes (cm) for treatment and control groups cows at different visit days. On visit V1 and V2 cervical diameter was 8.26±1.20 and 6.43±0.85 with corresponding control group having 4.87±0.7.Uterine horn (UH) diameter was 13.42±2.32 vs. 12.51±1.03 in treatment and control group on V2 respectively.On Visit V5 uterine horn diameter was 5.76±0.61 in treatment groups as compared to 2.88±0.24 in positive control group.PMNs percentages on V2 were significantly higher in treatment group (48.17±10.07) as compared to control group (31.73±9.70).PMNs percentages on V2 were significantly higher in treatment group (48.17±10.07) as compared to control group (31.73±9.70).On V5 PMNs percentage was 4.10±5.74 in treatment group which was comparable with control one (4.67±6.17).First service conception rate was 40% and 43% in treatment and control group respectively.Pregnancy rate (87%) was comparable in treatment group with control one (90%) after overall inseminations.Results prove that systemic and intrauterine antibacterial therapy combined with prostaglandin has beneficial impact on reproductive performance in dairy cattle with APM.