Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jul;30(4):651-653.
doi: 10.1177/1040638718778745. Epub 2018 May 23.

Genital mycoplasmas of healthy bitches

Zinka Maksimović  1   2 , Alan Maksimović  1   2 , Anis Halilbašić  1   2 , Maid Rifatbegović  1   2
Affiliations

Genital mycoplasmas of healthy bitches

Zinka Maksimović et al. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Little is known about the presence of mycoplasmas in the genital tracts of domestic and stray bitches or in the vaginas of ovariohysterectomized (OHE) bitches. Moreover, to our knowledge, there has been no research to investigate the presence of canine vaginal mycoplasmas during the different stages of the reproductive cycle. We investigated the occurrence of mycoplasmas in the vaginas of healthy domestic and stray intact bitches, to correlate their presence with specific stages of the reproductive cycle, and to compare them with those in OHE bitches. We also investigated the presence of uterine mycoplasmas. Mycoplasmas were isolated from 41 of 122 vaginal swabs (34%) from domestic (27%) and stray (39%) bitches. Mycoplasma canis was the most commonly identified species ( n = 26; 63%), and was detected in both intact (60%) and OHE (73%) bitches. Mycoplasma isolates from the vaginas of healthy bitches did not vary during the various stages of the estrous cycle. Mycoplasmas were not detected in uterine samples.

Keywords: Bitches; mycoplasmas; reproductive cycle; uterus; vagina.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Allen W, Dagnall G. Some observations on the aerobic bacterial flora of the genital tract of the dog and bitch. J Small Anim Pract 1982;23:325–335.
    1. Baba E, et al. Vaginal and uterine microflora of adult dogs. Am J Vet Res 1983;44:606–609. - PubMed
    1. Bjurström L. Aerobic bacteria occurring in the vagina of bitches with reproductive disorders. Acta Vet Scand 1993;34:29–34. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bjurström L, Linde-Forsberg C. Long-term study of aerobic bacteria of the genital tract in breeding bitches. Am J Vet Res 1992;53:665–669. - PubMed
    1. Chalker VJ. Canine mycoplasmas. Res Vet Sci 2005;79:1–8. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources