Risk factors of clinical and subclinical endometritis in cattle: a review

Abstract

The postpartum period is a critical period in the life of dairy cattle and management of the most important problems and diseases at an early stage represents the key to successful dairy herd management. Endometritis is one of the most important and dramatic diseases that disrupt the reproductive performance of cows and reduce the livestock profitability. Because endometritis is a multifactorial disease and is caused by nonspecific bacteria, determining all the factors that enhance its risk of occurrence is more important than treating the disease. This review considers the evidence regarding the risk factors for postpartum endometritis in dairy cattle in an attempt to explain the causality between each risk factor and both clinical and subclinical endometritis. The present article will discuss the importance of determining the risk factors of endometritis that must be considered for the treatment of cows. For example, antibiotics must be associated with improvement of the rations in the case of nutritional deficit and metabolic problems. Furthermore, these risk factors represent an alternative to treatment by including them in an adequate preventive strategy to master at least the most important risk factor to limit the prevalence and severity of endometritis. We conclude that some factors are specific for one form of endometritis and some others are common between clinical and subclinical endometritis, but all of them make the disease more severe and frequent.