A STUDY OF THE MICROBIAL-FLORA OF THE ANTERIOR VAGINA OF NORMAL SOWS DURING DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE REPRODUCTIVE-CYCLE

Sterile guarded swabs were used to sample the anterior vaginal and cer vical area of 23 normal healthy sows during various stages of the repr oductive cycle. The samples were collected one week before farrowing, within 24 hours of farrowing, weekly up to weaning, at mating and at 2 and 3 weeks after mating, and then plated and incubated aerobically a nd anaerobically. At least one positive sample was obtained from each sow and at each stage of the reproductive cycle. Most positive samples (78.3%) were obtained on the day of farrowing and the least 3 weeks a fter mating (19.0%). The second highest number of positive samples (45 .5%) Was found immediately after mating. Although there was no signifi cant difference among sows of different parities, there was a trend fo r older sows to have more positive samples after farrowing (84.6%). Th ere was a greater decrease in positive samples after farrowing and aft er mating among younger sows compared with older sows. A wide range of bacteria including aerobic and anaerobic species, were recovered from 142 Isolates. The more representative bacteria were Streptococcus spp (23.2%); Escherichia coll (22.5%); Staphylococcus spp (19.0%) and Cor ynebacterium spp (13.4%). Of the cultures, 54.7% were pure and 45.3% w ere mixed. Both the percentage of bacterial isolates as well as the ty pe of culture (pure or mixed) were similar to those frequently reporte d in clinical cases of vulval discharge syndrome. The results indicate that sows usually develop infections of the reproductive tract at far rowing and mating but these infections do not normally persist.