Short Lecture “Clinical cure rates of endometritis in dairy cows after intrauterine application of an antibiotic or an herbal veterinary medicinal product”

Summary

Reproductive disorders represent one of the most challenging problems for dairy cattle farmers. We compared the clinical cure rates of endometritis after the intrauterine application of cephapirin (Metricure​; cefapirin benzathin 500 mg per dosis; CEPH) or a herbal product (25ml of EucaComp​ PlantaVet containing alcoholic extracts of Calendula officinalis, Mellissa officinalis, Origanum majorana and the essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus (EUC)). Totally, 169 cows between 21 and 35 days after calving were included and randomly assigned to one of the both treatment groups. Endometritis diagnosis was based on a scoring system for vaginal discharge. For final analysis, 136 cows (61 EUC and 75 CEPH) were maintained. In total, 64% (EUC: 61%, CEPH: 67%) of the endometritis cases were considered as clinically cured 14±2 days after the first treatment without statistical difference (p=0.956). Uncured cows 14±2 days after the first treatment were treated again as for the first time and controlled 14±2 days thereafter. This results in an overall clinical cure rate one month after initial endometritis diagnosis of 85% (EUC: 82%, CEPH: 88%; p=0.923). In conclusion, there was no statistical difference between the clinical cure of dairy cows’ endometritis after the intrauterine application of a herbal veterinary medicinal product or the antibiotic cephapirin. These results could contribute to reduce the antimicrobial use in the daily veterinary routine treatment of endometritis.