title: Identification of Escherichia coli and Trueperella pyogenes isolated from the uterus of dairy cows using routine bacteriological testing and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Uterine disorders are common postpartum diseases in dairy cows. In practice, uterine treatment is often based on systemic or locally applied antimicrobials with no previous identification of pathogens. Accurate on-farm diagnostics are not available, and routine testing is time-consuming and cost intensive. An accurate method that could simplify the identification of uterine pathogenic bacteria and improve pathogen-specific treatments could be an important advance to practitioners. The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether a database built with uterine bacteria from European dairy cows could be used to identify bacteria from Argentinean cows by Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Uterine samples from 64 multiparous dairy cows with different types of vaginal discharge (VD) were collected between 5 and 60 days postpartum, analyzed by routine bacteriological testing methods and then re-evaluated by FTIR spectroscopy (n = 27).
  
  
  RESULTS
  FTIR spectroscopy identified Escherichia coli in 12 out of 14 samples and Trueperella pyogenes in 8 out of 10 samples. The agreement between the two methods was good with a Kappa coefficient of 0.73. In addition, the likelihood for bacterial growth of common uterine pathogens such as E. coli and T. pyogenes tended to increase with VD score. The odds for a positive result to E. coli or T. pyogenes was 1.88 times higher in cows with fetid VD than in herdmates with clear normal VD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the presence of E. coli and T. pyogenes in uterine samples from Argentinean dairy cows can be detected with FTIR with the use of a database built with uterine bacteria from European dairy cows. Future studies are needed to determine if FTIR can be used as an alternative to routine bacteriological testing methods.
authors.affiliation: Cátedra y Servicio de Reproducción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de La Plata (FCV-UNLP), B1900AVW, La Plata, Argentina.|Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jaureguiberry
authors.affiliation: Cátedra y Servicio de Reproducción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de La Plata (FCV-UNLP), B1900AVW, La Plata, Argentina.|Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Laura Vanina
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Madoz
authors.affiliation: Cátedra de Fisiología, FCV-UNLP, B1900AVW, La Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mauricio Javier
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Giuliodori
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.|Clinical Unit for Herd Health Management in Ruminants, University Clinic for Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wagener
authors.affiliation: Clinical Unit for Herd Health Management in Ruminants, University Clinic for Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prunner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grunert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehling-Schulz
authors.affiliation: Clinical Unit for Herd Health Management in Ruminants, University Clinic for Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drillich
authors.affiliation: Cátedra y Servicio de Reproducción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de La Plata (FCV-UNLP), B1900AVW, La Plata, Argentina. dairydoc82@gmail.com.|Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina. dairydoc82@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rodolfo Luzbel
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9417-9560
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: de la Sota
mesh_terms: D000191:Actinomycetaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000193:Actinomycetales Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014591:Uterine Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary
keywords: Bacteriological testing; Dairy cow; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy