Vet World   Vol.17   September-2024  Article - 9 

Development of a rapid test to determine endometritis of cows after calving

Background and Aim: Postpartum uterine disease, such as endometritis, is widespread in highly productive dairy cows, leading to fertility problems and economic losses. Despite existing diagnostic methods, early and effective detection of uterine infections remains problematic due to the subclinical nature of some conditions. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a rapid diagnostic test for endometritis in cows on different days postpartum (PP). 

Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on dairy Holstein–Friesian cows (n = 121) kept on farms in northern Kazakhstan. The study included both clinically normal cows and those diagnosed with endometritis, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of the diagnostic methods across different stages of uterine health. The following laboratory tests were performed to diagnose and evaluate the presence and severity of endometritis in the cows: Nagorny-Kalinovsky test, Whiteside test, Katerinov test, Gavrish silver nitrate test, peroxide test, and clinical tests (rectal and vaginal examination). These tests were specifically chosen to identify inflammatory processes in the uterus, particularly focusing on detecting endometritis. 

Results: From day 21 to 30 PP, rectal and vaginal examinations were 32% and 28% more effective than the Nagorny-Kalinovsky test and the Whiteside test. From day 61 postpartum, the Whiteside test was 37.5% more effective than the Nagorny-Kalinovsky test. Comparatively, among laboratory diagnostic methods from days 10 to 110 PP, the peroxide test showed the greatest effectiveness in identifying 80.9% of sick animals. In sick animals from day 10 to 20 PP, during the interaction of the cervicovaginal mucus with 10%, 20%, and 30% hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), an 8.1 ± 1.9–8.8 ± 1.6 cm foam column was formed within 4–5 min. 

Conclusion: The experiment showed that a 10% H₂O₂ solution yielded better results. Using H₂O₂ as a diagnostic agent for endometritis in cows has several advantages, including ease of use, it does not require special laboratory conditions and provides a visual reading of the reaction within 4–5 min. A limitation of this study is the focus on H₂O₂ without exploring other potential reagents that may enhance diagnostic accuracy. Future research could explore the long-term stability of cervicovaginal mucus samples and investigate the integration of additional substances that may expedite the detection of subclinical endometritis and improve the clarity of diagnostic results. 

Keywords: cervicovaginal mucus, cows, laboratory diagnostics, peroxide test, endometritis.

How to cite this article: Jakupov I, Wehrend A, Abultdinova A, Mamytbekova G, Zharkimbaeva Z, and Zabrodin A (2024) Development of a rapid test to determine endometritis of cows after calving, Veterinary World, 17(9): 2028-2035.

Received: 2024-06-03    Accepted: 2024-07-22    Published online: 2024-09-13

Corresponding author: Isatay Jakupov and Albert Zabrodin    E-mail: isatay.jakupov@gmail.com and albert.zabrodin@bk.ru

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2028-2035

Copyright: Jakupov, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.