Animal bites present a risk of infection. When the skin is penetrated bites to the fingers and hand can lead to infections occurring, especially where an animal skin passes on a pathogen through saliva. The saliva of a typical animal contains more than 600 bacterial species, some of which can be harmful.
In addition to what is contained within the oral cavity of animals, some animals can assert a very strong bite and they can often, with sufficient force, break the skin. For example, a typical adult dog has jaws that have the capability of exerting a bite force of more than 300 pounds. To add to this, the teeth of many dogs are sharp and, when combined with the force of the jaw, can create puncture wounds. Cats may not possess the jaw strength of dogs; however, they have very sharp teeth. In the U.S., the survey reveals, cat bites tend to lead to double the number of infections compared with bites from dogs.
The survey, with focuses solely on the U.S., reveals some interesting data:
More than half of all U.S. citizens will sustain an animal bite during the course of their life.
Bites from domestic animals account for over 90 percent of bites. The majority of these are from dogs.
The annual health care costs from animal bites are exceeds $850 million.
In the report, some advice is offered. If a bite occurs, it is important to:
Inspect the area for any puncture wounds. Even a small wound can present an infection risk.
If there is a puncture wound the area should be washed using soap and water. Following this, health care advice should be sought.
If the wound is bleeding heavily, put a clean pad or sterile dressing over it and apply pressure. Furthermore, if the skin is badly torn and bleeding significantly — first apply pressure with a bandage or clean cloth to stop the bleeding.
If there is redness or where pain increases rapidly then urgent medical attention is needed. Here the main symptoms of infection are erythema (redness), edema (swelling), progressive pain, and fever.
A key factor with wounds and infection risk relates to the size and depth of the wound and the amount of devitalized (dead) tissue together with the presence of exposed bone and/or infection, and the integrity of the joint.
The new survey has been written up in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The research is headed “Human and Other Mammalian Bite Injuries of the Hand: Evaluation and Management.”
