Prevalence of opportunistic fungi and their possible role in postpartum endometritis in dairy cows

The aim of this study was to identify fungal infections by culture from uterine lavages of 172 Holstein dairy cows between 25 and 35 days postpartum and two weeks later. In the first examination, 61/172 (35.5%) cows were suffering from clinical endometritis. The positive rate of fungal growth was fifteen (8.7 %) swabs and the remaining 157 (91.3%) showed no fungal growth. The most frequently isolated fungi were Aspergillus spp. (60%) followed by Penicillium spp. (26%) and Yeast (13%). In the second examination, 20/128 (16%) cows showed endometritis. Nine (5.5%) swabs were fungal positive. No significant differences between cows with positive and negative fungal cultures in the percentage of polymorphonuclear leukocytes of cytological samples were seen. In conclusion, treatment of cows affected with postpartum endometritis with intrauterine infusion of oxytetracycline, hygiene of bed, number of cows in one yard, age and parity of cows may cause increase in incidence of mycotic endometritis.