Animal and human bite injuries in Victoria, 1998–2004

Abstract

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of mammal (human and non‐human) bite injuries in Victoria. Participants, design and setting: Retrospective case series of injuries recorded in the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) (1998–2004) and deaths recorded in the National Coroners Information System (1 July 2000 – 1 June 2006). Main outcome measures: Frequency, nature and outcome of injury as a function of mammal, victim demographics and season. Results: Of 12 982 bite injuries identified in the VEMD, dogs, humans, and cats were implicated in 79.6%, 8.7%, and 7.2% of cases, respectively. Dog bite injuries were commonly sustained to the hands/wrists (31.3%) and face/head (25.4%); cat bites to the hands/wrists (67.6%) and arms (16.0%); and human bites to the hands/wrists (37.1%), arms (20.5%) and face/head (20.4%). Males comprised 73.7% and 56.3% of human and dog bite victims, respectively, while females comprised 64.1% of cat bite victims. A third of dog bite victims (33.4%) were children aged 14 years or less. Most human bite victims (79.8%) were adults aged 20–49 years, inclusive. More injuries were sustained on weekends and during the summer, 55.4% of injuries occurred in the home, and 11.6% of patients required hospital admission. Dog bites resulted in three deaths. Conclusions: Mammal bite injuries are common and often require inpatient care. Patterns of bite injuries relate to the type of mammal involved. These epidemiological data will inform prevention initiatives to decrease the incidence of mammal bites.

Epidemiology and surveillance of human animal-bite injuries and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, in selected counties in Kenya, 2011–2016

“…The same age group also had increased chances of suffering bite by owned dogs compared to unowned dogs. These findings are similar to previous studies that reported dog bites to be a major public health problem worldwide especially among male children below the age of 15 years [2, 4, 9, 13]. This is very critical in rabies elimination strategy using mass dog vaccinations since this age group are the ones who normally bring dogs for vaccinations (authors observation) and they are also critical group for targeting public health education to prevent rabies transmission following an incident of animal-bite including wound washing with soap and water, access to PEP and responsible dog ownership.…”

“…Approximately 85 to 90% of human animal-bite injuries are caused by dogs, 5 to 10% by cats and 2 to 3% by humans and rodents [2]. In low income countries, several studies have demonstrated that dogs account for 76 to 94% of animal-bite injuries resulting into high prevalence of rabies and higher fatality rates due to poor access to anti-rabies post exposure treatment [5–7].…”

An Analytical Study of Mammalian Bite Wounds Requiring Inpatient Management

“…The finding that a greater number of human bites occurred among men than women is similar to those of other reports [10,13]. The propensity for men to be bitten by dogs was considered esplainable by the tendency of men to be more aggressive with dogs [7].…”

Grievous Temporal and Occipital Injury Caused by a Bear Attack

“…The hallmark of a boar attack is the infliction of multiple penetrating injuries to the lower part of the body [9]. In a study of mammalian injuries, the hands and wrists are the most commonly involved sites as 36.1%, followed by the face, head and neck (22.6%), and the arms (13.7%) [10]. …”