Effects of intrauterine infection by Staphylococcus aureus and Mycoplasma capricolum on the fertility of Nubian goats.

Oestrous cycles were followed by blood progesterone titration and the occurrence of pregnancy was observed after mating in three groups of mature female Nubian goats. Two groups of 4 and 3 goats each were experimentally infected by an in utero injection of either a Staphylococcus aureus or a Mycoplasma capricolum strain of caprine origin. A third group of 4 goats served as a control. Both bacterial infections persisted in all experimental animals, except one, for at least 70 days. As a result, there is a shortening of the first two cycles and progesterone concentration was lower than in the controls. Only one inoculated goat became pregnant after the third oestrus. It is suggested that bacterial inflammation of the uterus may thus modify the oestrous cycle through the prostaglandin pathway.