Association of Escherichia coli and Fusobacterium necrophorum with subclinical endometritis in postpartum Murrah buffalo

The present study was carried out to examine the association between the presence of Escherichia coli and Fusobacterium necrophorum during early postpartum period and subsequent development of subclinical endometritis. In addition, the utility of uterine lavage based cytology for diagnosing subclinical endometritis and its impact on the subsequent reproductive performance were studied. Uterine lavage was done with sterile normal saline on 30–31 day postpartum (dpp) from normally calved Murrah buffalo (n=12) for diagnosing subclinical endometritis using the 5% cut-off of polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes set for cattle. Incidence of subclinical endometritis was 41.7% (5/12) in the present study. A significant association between the presence of E. coli on 20–21 dpp and the development of subclinical endometritis on 30–31 dpp in the buffalo was observed (P<0.05). Mean percent of PMN leukocyte, lymphocyte and endometrial epithelial cells was 11.57, 21.32 and 67.11, respectively in buffaloes with subclinical endometritis. While the corresponding figures in buffaloes without subclinical endometritis was 2.42, 6.79 and 90.79 percent, respectively. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the reproductive performance of buffaloes with and without subclinical endometritis which might be due to low sample size. It was suggested that the pathological and diagnostic significance of lymphocytes in relation to postpartum subclinical endometritis in buffalo need to be studied. In addition, the diagnostic criteria for determining subclinical endometritis in postpartum buffalo by endometrial cytology with respect to the ratio of PMN cells to lymphocytes need to be established.