BMJ  2007;334:413-417 (24 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39105.659919.BE

Clinical Review

Dog bites

¹ Old Pathology Laboratory, Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, Exeter EX2 5AD, ² Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, Exeter

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Bites and maulings by dogs, sometimes fatal, are a worldwide problem and particularly affect children. Every year 250 000 people who have been bitten by dogs attend minor injuries and emergency units in the United Kingdom,¹ and some of them are admitted to hospital for surgical debridement or intravenous antibiotics.

Wound management is as important as use of antimicrobials in preventing infection Primary closure should be avoided in limb injuries where possible because of increased risk of infection For patients considered to be at higher risk of infection, the prophylaxis of choice is co-amoxiclav Erythromycin or flucloxacillin should never be used alone prophylactically as Pasteurella infection is usually resistant Infected wounds presenting within 12 hours of injury are usually due to Pasteurella multocida Patients at particularly high risk of infection are immunosuppressed patients, particularly those with asplenia or cirrhosis or those who have had a mastectomy

Increasingly, dog bites are . . . [Full text of this article]

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