Isolation of aerobic bacterial agents and determination of their susceptibility to antibiotics in intra uterine swab samples taken from dairy cows with metritis

Metritis is defined as the inflammatory response of the uterus to traumatic, microbial and chemical irritant effects. This study aimed to determine the isolation, identification and antibacterial susceptibility of bacterial agents from swab samples taken from dairy cows with metritis. In this study, intrauterine wash samples/swab were taken from 186 of 253 dairy cows that underwent ultrasonographic examination. The samples were brought to Selcuk University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Microbiology laboratory in cold chain. Centrifuged samples were cultured on Blood, MacConkey, Mannitol Salt and Eosin Methylene Blue Agar. Media were incubated aerobically at 37 °C for 24-48 hours. Media that did not show growth were kept in incubation for one week. Suspicious colonies were identified according to classical microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility tests of isolated bacteria were determined according to the Kirby Bauer method. A total of 48 bacterial agents were isolated from intrauterine wash/swab samples. 12 (25%) of the bacterial agents were identified as Enterococcus spp., 10 (20.83%) as Escherichia coli, 8 (16.67%) as Coagulase negative staphylococcus (CNS), 6 (12.50%) as Corynebacterium spp, 5 (10.41%) as Streptococcus spp., 4 (8.34%) as Trueperella pyogenes and 3 (%) as Staphylococcus aureus. Enterococcus spp. isolates were found to be 91.67% sensitive to rifaximin-cefacetril, florfenicol and rifaximin and 75% sensitive to ampicillin-sulbactam. E. coli isolates were found to be resistant to almost all antibiotics. It was observed that CNS isolates were 75% susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam, 62.5% to danofloxacin, rifaximin-cefacetril and rifaximin, 87.5% resistant to penicillin, 100% resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxasol, cefquinome, and cephapirin. Corynebacterium spp isolates were found to be 91.67% susceptible to rifaximin, rifaximin-cefacetril and florfenicol. Streptococcus spp. isolates were found to be 40% susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam, amoxicillin, rifaximin, cefacetril, rifaximin xi and florfenicol, and 100% resistant to penicillin, danofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxasol, erythromycin, gentamicin, enrofloxacin and tylosin. T. pyogenes isolates were found to be 100% susceptible to rifaximin-cefacetril, florfenicol and rifaximin, while they were 100% resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic and spiramycin. S.aureus isolates were observed to be 100% susceptible to rifaximin-cefacetril and 100% resistant to penicillin, cephapirin, gentamicin and tylosin. It was concluded that bacteria such as Streptococcus ssp, E. coli, KNS, T. pyogenes, S. aureus, Corynebacterium spp and Enterococcus ssp were isolated from metritis cases in dairy cows and that protective measures should be taken since the isolates were relatively resistant to antibiotics. Key words: Dairy cow, metritis, bacteriyal agents