**3. Major contaminants of semen during AI procedure**

With the high spread of the AI technique, semen has become an important vehicle for dis‐ semination of pathogenic agents, either by previous infection of the male' reproductive tract or by contamination of the ejaculate through inadequate hygiene of the person collecting, di‐ rect contact with animal's feces or even the use of contaminated diluents. Several agents such as viral or bacterial, may be present in semen or may contaminate it after ejaculation.

*3.1.2. Mycobacterium sp.*

milliary tuberculosis [28].

*3.1.3. Brucella suis*

Bacteria of the Mycobacterium genus are agents causing tuberculosis, a disease character‐ ized by provoking granulomatous lesions in various organs. In pig herds, *Mycobacterium avium* is the most prevalent species, but infections caused by *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* and *Mycobacterium bovis* can also occur [27]. Although pulmonary tuberculosis is the commonest form, the dissemination of the infection by several other organs can occur in a form so-called

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When the disease appears under milliary form, the granulomatous lesions may be present in the reproductive organs with caseous necrosis with areas of calcification in the testis and ep‐ ididymis, therefore the elimination of the microorganisms by semen will occur [29, 30].

Those lesions associated with confirmatory tests, by using special colorations to identify the alcohol-acid resistant bacilli are sufficient for definitive diagnosis of the disease. For charac‐ terization of the species, the PCR technique has been used since the isolation of the myco‐

The possible sources of infection can be determined by characterization of the agent. Thus, the complete and definitive diagnosis is very important to the control. Moreover, the issues concerning the farm hygiene are factors to be considered because the exposure to feces are

The etiologic agent of brucellosis in pigs is the *Brucella suis*. The disease is characterized by high morbidity and reproductive disorders such as abortion, endometritis and placentitis in females and orchitis, changes of accessory glands, libido loss and infertility in male [34]. Abortion has been observed at 17 days after female cover with males which are positive for B. suis in semen. Infertility in animals is mainly due to the involvement of testicular struc‐ tures and lack of libido in the infected animals. The cases of contamination of the accessory glands are even more critical, since the animals remain fertile and can disseminate high

It is an extremely important disease for countries of the South America, Asia and Africa, where it is totally widespread. In the countries of North America and European Union, the prevalence is low or the disease has been eradicated [19]. The main route for elimination of brucellosis in farms is the genital arising from a positive male which eliminates the microor‐ ganism in the semen. Bacteria reach the reproductive organs after invasion of the lymph no‐ des followed by bacteremia [35]. In male, the infection may persist throughout life. Thus, it is necessary to eliminate the positive animals to prevent the dissemination of the disease.

In the case of positive farms, the control procedures should be performed. Among them, the sanitary break after the elimination of the positive animals and the monitoring of the repro‐ ducers' serological profile has proved to be effective for elimination of the agent of the herd. Although, nowadays, the sanitary conditions in commercial farms and the agility of the de‐

bacterium strains is considered as laborious procedure [31, 32].

the main factor for infection and dissemination of the disease [33].

loads of B. suis in semen during prolonged periods.

## **3.1. Bacterial contaminants**

Naturally, the pig' fresh semen contains approximately 104 to 105 bacteria/ml [16]. Al‐ though those bacteria are not pathogenic, they present spermicidal effect, especially when they are present at high concentrations [17]. To aggravate the situation, the majority of the bacteria which may be present in semen have innate or acquired resistance to antimicrobi‐ al agents added to diluters of the semen [18]. Many antimicrobial agents may still have their optimum action impaired by environmental conditions, such as the temperature [19]. Therefore, even with addition of antibiotics, the bacterial transmission through AI is a sit‐ uation that may occur.

Common bacteria which are associated with infections of the sows´ genital tract and are pos‐ sibly transmitted via semen are presented below.
