Complications and Health Problems

Dogs associate closely with humans in today’s society and they are a part of many households across America. In addition, they play an active role in entertainment, sports, law enforcement, agriculture, and in helping the disabled. With so many roles, it is sometimes hard to remember that man’s best friend can still pose a threat to humans. Since dog bites are a preventable public health problem, the third full week of May has been established as National Dog Bite Prevention Week set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the US Postal Department.1 In 2 separate studies, it was estimated that roughly 4.7 million people in 1994 and 4.37 million people in 20012003 were bitten annually, with 836,000 (19%) seeking medical attention. This equates to about 1.5% of the population bitten annually and 0.3% requiring medical attention.2,3 Of the individuals seeking medical attention, approximately 16 fatalities occur yearly, which is about 0.0002% of the total population bitten.1 It has also been documented in multiple studies that the highest rate of dog bite hospitalizations and emergency department treatments occur among boys ages 1-9 years.2,4-6 Children are common victims because of their aggressive play, lack of caution, and mistreatment of animals. Between 60% and 78% of dog bite victims are familiar with the dog(s) involved or the animal’s owner; while members of households with dogs were more likely to be bitten than those from households without dogs.2,4,6 There have been no studies isolating the number of dog bite injuries specifically to either the foot or the lower extremity; however, it has been estimated that up to 60,000 bite wounds to the foot and 660,000 to the lower extremity occur per year in the US.6 One study concluded that bite wounds were as high as 7% to the foot and 43% to the lower extremity from data collected on 457 individuals.7 Dire, however, reported that of 765 dog bite wounds in 704 patients, 15.9% involved the leg and only 1.7% involved the foot.8 COMPLICATIONS AND HEALTH PROBLEMS