Bite, Animal
Basics
Description
Description
- Animal bites are common and account for ∼1% of ED visits
- Most bites are from provoked animals
- Dog-bite wounds:
- Large dogs inflict the most serious wounds (pit bulls cause the most human fatalities)
- Most fatalities in children (70%) due to bites to face/neck
- Dogs of family or friends account for most bites
- Cat-bite wounds:
- Majority from pets known to victim
- 50% infection rate in those seeking care
- Puncture wounds most frequent due to sharp, thin teeth causing deep inoculation of bacteria
- Cat scratch disease (CSD):
- 3 of the following 4 criteria:
- Cat contact, with presence of scratch or inoculation lesion of the skin, eye, or mucous membrane
- Positive CSD skin test result
- Characteristic lymph node histopathology
- Negative results of lab studies for other causes of lymphadenopathy
- 3 of the following 4 criteria:
- Rat-bite wounds:
- Occur in lab personnel or children of low socioeconomic status
- Rat-bite fever (RBF), rare in the U.S. but high mortality rate
- Rat bites rarely transmit rabies, and prophylaxis not routine unless animal is suspected to be rabid
Etiology
Etiology
- Dog and cat bites:
- Pasteurella multocida is the major organism in both:
- Twice as likely to be found in cat bites than dog bites
- Gram-negative aerobe found in up to 80% of cat infections
- Infection appears in <24 hr
- Staphylococcus or Streptococcus:
- Infection appears in >24 hr
- Other organisms include anaerobes and Capnocytophaga canimorsus (dogs)
- Pasteurella multocida is the major organism in both:
- CSD:
- Caused by Bartonella henselae
- Rat bites:
- Caused by Spirillum minus and Streptobacillus moniliformis (RBF)
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Citation
Schaider, Jeffrey J., et al., editors. "Bite, Animal." 5-Minute Emergency Consult, 6th ed., Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2020. Emergency Central, emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307086/all/Bite__Animal.
Bite, Animal. In: Schaider JJJ, Barkin RMR, Hayden SRS, et al, eds. 5-Minute Emergency Consult. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2020. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307086/all/Bite__Animal. Accessed October 9, 2024.
Bite, Animal. (2020). In Schaider, J. J., Barkin, R. M., Hayden, S. R., Wolfe, R. E., Barkin, A. Z., Shayne, P., & Rosen, P. (Eds.), 5-Minute Emergency Consult (6th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307086/all/Bite__Animal
Bite, Animal [Internet]. In: Schaider JJJ, Barkin RMR, Hayden SRS, Wolfe RER, Barkin AZA, Shayne PP, Rosen PP, editors. 5-Minute Emergency Consult. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2020. [cited 2024 October 09]. Available from: https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307086/all/Bite__Animal.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
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