Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Flora from Reproductive Tracts of Normal Ewes in Glasgow

The present study was conducted to determine the normal bacterial flora of the uterus, cervix and vagina. For this purpose, a total of forty-five reproductive tracts were examined. Of all, thirty-five reproductive tracts were collected from cull ewes at Paisley abattoir and examined to determine the normal bacterial flora of the uterus and vagina. In addition, nine ewes which had been culled from the Cochno flock for non reproductive reasons were also examined for residual infection in the reproductive tract. For the 35 ewes, the species isolated were similar to those present in the vaginal discharge, but no bacteria were isolated from 4(11%) of the vaginas and 12 (34%) of the uteri. E. coli and Streptococcus spp. were the predominant bacteria, but Bacillus and Proteus spp. were the less frequent isolates. For the nine ewes, bacteria were recovered from all the vaginal samples and the uteri and cervix of all but three animals (67%) had no bacteria. In two animals, bacteria were not recorded from the cervix but were isolated from the uterus and in three no bacteria were isolated from either cervix or uterus. This isolation may reflect residual infection or could be due to contamination at sampling or even a low level of commensal colonisation.