title: Endometritis in the mare: A comparison between reproductive history and uterine biopsy as techniques for predicting susceptibility of mares to uterine infection.
abstract: Thirty mares with no clinical signs of endometritis were categorized as being susceptible or resistant to uterine infection depending on whether or not they had a history of recurrent endometritis. The same mares were then independently classified as susceptible or resistant on the basis of their uterine biopsies; those with significant endometrial degeneration were considered to be susceptible to endometritis. The mares then received an intrauterine inoculation of pathogenic Streptococcus zooepidemicus . Those mares which eliminated bacteria by 10 d after inoculation were considered truly resistant to endometritis, whereas those still infected at 10 d were considered susceptible. The original classifications based on history or biopsy were compared to the inoculation results. A history of recurrent endometritis provided a more sensitive (0.90) and specific (0.95) indication of susceptibility to uterine infection than a uterine biopsy with significant endometrial degeneration (sensitivity 0.5, specificity 0.75).
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Studies Murdoch University Murdoch, Western Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Munyua
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Penhale