Acute Metritis

Acute metritis is often caused by bacterial contamination of the uterus immediately after parturition. Its incidence ranges from 18% to 50% of the population of dairy cows and comprises about 19 million dairy cows each year. Acute metritis causes severe economic losses due to costs for treatment, milk withdrawal, reduced reproductive performance, and premature culling. The total cost estimate for one case of acute metritis in the US ranges from $330 and $386 depending on the therapy used and discarded milk usage. Acute metritis decreases pregnancy rate; dairy cows with acute metritis take 27% longer to become pregnant than cows acute metritis and produce between 1.5 to 5.0 kg/day less milk than healthy cows.

Since post-partum uterine diseases are very costly, the best clinical approach to post-partum uterine diseases is preventive treatment, which should be administered to the above-mentioned 260 million dairy cows worldwide.