Using chitosan microparticles to prevent metritis in lactating dairy cows

Metritis, an acute inflammatory disease of multiple layers of the uterine lining with systemic implications, affects 20 to 40% of the postpartum dairy cows and has marked welfare, health, production, reproduction, and economic consequences to the individual animal and the herd. In cows with risk factors such as dystocia, delivery of twin calves, retained placenta (RP) or stillbirth the incidence ranges from 50 to 70%. Traditionally, antibiotics have been used to prevent or treat uterine disease. Ceftiofur hydrochloride is 1 of the 3 approved antibiotics for systemic administration for treatment of metritis in dairy cows, and it is the antibiotic of choice because it does not incur a milk withhold. The Food and Drug Administration, based on the risk to public health, and as an attempt to limit the use of third generation cephalosporins, banned the use of this class of drugs for disease prevention in food animals. Chitosan microparticles (CM) is a polysaccharide derived from chitin found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, and at a concentration of 0.2%, was found to be as effective as ceftiofur hydrochloride at reducing intrauterine E. coli. The main aim of this study was to investigate whether CM could be used as an alternative to traditional antibiotics for the prevention of metritis in dairy cows.