title: Efficacy of ozone as a novel treatment option for urovagina in dairy cows.
abstract: Urovagina is detrimental to the health and fertility of cows worldwide. Surgery, the only known treatment, is not economically pragmatic to dairy practice, and it has some medical drawbacks. The objective of this study was to determine whether reproductive problems associated with urovagina could be alleviated through more practical and less-invasive treatment options to allow successful conception and term-pregnancy. Cows diagnosed with urovagina (n = 1219) were divided into three treatment groups, each containing an equal number of cows with mild, moderate and severe urovagina. The groups received one of three treatment options: saline (group A, n = 400), streptomycin (group B, n = 400) or ozone (group C, n = 419) flush, regardless of the severity of the urovagina condition within the group. The ozone treatment was found to be the most effective treatment modality, resulting in the shortest period of days open (95, 89 and 79 days in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05), the fewest number of inseminations until pregnancy (2.38, 1.84 and 1.63 in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05) and the smallest number of culled cows (20, 23 and 12 in groups A, B and C, respectively; p < 0.05). The ozone flush coupled with intracornual insemination presents an effective treatment option for urovagina that can lead to successful conceptions and pregnancies in dairy cows.
authors.affiliation: Croatia College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, USA. robert.zobel@sk.t-com.hr
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zobel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tkalčić
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stoković
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pipal
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Buić
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D005260:Female; D010126:Ozone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction; D013307:Streptomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D014623:Vaginal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D010126:Ozone; D013307:Streptomycin