Dog bites


Animal bites are a common injury, especially in children. They have a wide scale from small scratches to amputations. Because of the risk of the infections, special care and treatment is needed, different than in any other injury. In our algorithm we focus on dog bites, because that is the most common case. Algorithm has two different branches describing a situation with both rabies vaccinated and non vaccinated dog.

2021
dog bites
rabies profylaxis
Published at: 1.6.2021

Review

Kateřina Gajdošíková, MD
Physician, Department of surgery, Úrazová nemocnice Brno, Czech Republic

Dog bites are injuries that surgeons have to deal with every day in their practice. That's why this topic is always up-to-date. Proper primary care is important mostly to prevent infectious complications not only in the wound, but also spreading complex infections by microbes such as Clostridium tetani and Lyssavirus. This interactive algorithm focuses on management and treatment of dog bites from the point of view of passerby person, paramedics and the doctor in the hospital. In it's steps it shows wound treatment including antibiotics profylaxis, tetanus vaccination scheme and rules for rabies vaccination after dog bites by vaccinated and non-vaccinated dog. It also takes into account up-to-date epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic. This algorithm has educational benefit for surgeons, doctors in emergency department or general practitioners.

Sources

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