Efficacy of Intrauterine Administration of Gentamicin in the Treatment of Clinical Endometritis in Crossbred Cattle

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of intrauterine infusion of Gentamicin, a bread spectrum antibiotic with deep tissue penetrance either alone or in combination with Stillboestrol in the treatment of clinical endometritis. Isolation of the infective organisms and sensitivity test were also carried out on a limited number of cases. One hundred and seventy crossbred cows and heifer with clinical endomtritis formed the materials for the study. These animals were randomly allotted into two treatment groups. Group 1 comprising of 86 animals were given 250 mg of Gentamicin intrauterine and group 11 comprising 250 mg of Gentamicin intrauterine and group 11 comprising of 84 animals were given a combination of Gentamicin and 10 mg of Stilboestrol. Those animals which were completely free of infection were inseminated in the next heat and rest were given a second infusion of the above drugs. Conception rate was worked out both on 90 days non return rate and actual pregnancy verification. Uterine discharges from 25 animals were collected for bacterial isolation and sensitivity test. Among 8352 cattle examined during the period of study 807 (9.66%) were found to be affected with clinical endometritis. Eighty six cases treated with Gentamicin gave a single insemination conception rate of 56.45 per cent with an overall conception rate of 72.58 per cent needing 1.91 inseminations per conception. On the ether hand, 84 cases receiving Gentamicin, Stilboestrol combination recorded a single insemination conception percentage of 40.90 with an overall conception of 63.63 per cent requiring 2.39 insemination per conception. There was no variation between groups with respect to percentage conception and average number of days from treatment to conception. The percentage clinical recovery with single infusion in group 1 and 11 were found to be 96.51 and 94.03. The number of intrauterine infusion was not found to influence the conception rate and the recovery period. The study also revealed that the parity of the animal in both the treatment groups did not influence the effectiveness of the treatment with respect to percentage conception and the average number of days from treatment to conception. It can be concluded that Gentamicin or Gentamicin Stillboestrol combination is equally effective in the treatment of clinical endomtritis. However, addition of Stillboestrol in the Gentamicin infusion did not have any added beneficial effect. The bacterial isolates were Haemophilus (8%), Staphylococcus (20%), Bacillus (4%),Pasteurella (8%) Actinobacillus (4%), Heromonas (12%), Lectobacillus (4%)and Streptobacillus (4%). The sensitivity of the isolates to Gentamicin, Septran, Chloramphenicol, Tetracycline and Ampicillin were respectively 60, 44, 28, 28 and 8 per cent. Isolation and sensitivity study has proved that most of the isolates were sensitive to Gentamicin and hence it is considered to be a very effective antibiotic for treating uterine infection.