Cultured Bacteria in the Abdominal Wall Incision During the Realisation of Caesarean Section in Cows: A Preliminary Study

Caesarean section (CS) is the most common operation performed in cattle. This surgery is often performed in a contaminated environment, increasing the risk of post-operative surgical wound infection. For this reason, veterinarians administer antibiotics to reduce the occurrence of these complications. To improve the efficacy of injected antibiotics, this study aimed to describe the bacteria likely to be encountered in the abdominal wall incision during a CS. Swabs were taken from the abdominal incision of 23 cows during the procedure and sent to the laboratory for bacterial culture. The results showed that no bacteria were cultured in the majority of samples (16/22), while 14 isolates were observed in 6/22 swabs and one sample was considered contaminated. The identified bacteria were aerobic, and some of them (6/14) were Gram-negative and others (8/14) were Gram-positive bacteria. The main identified species were Acinetobacter spp., Aerococcus viridans, Neisseria spp. and Streptococcus spp. In conclusion, the abdominal wound incision of CS is frequently contaminated by environmental bacteria. This contamination might be avoided by an increased focus on working aseptically and by improving the general conditions in which CS are performed.