Abstract

NAVIA, Marcelo J.. Mordedura de perro en cara. Arch. argent. pediatr. [online]. 2005, vol.103, n.5, pp.396-400. ISSN 0325-0075.

Introduction. Dog bites are a major cause of injury in children. The most severe injuries are reported in children aged <4 years and dog bites are localized in the head region. Objective. 1) To describe environment and clinical features of facial dog bites; 2) to evaluate previous knowledge about measures in order to reduce the incidence of dog bites. Population, material and methods. This study analyzed facial dog bites in children that attended to the Hospital Prof. Dr. Juan Garrahan of Buenos Aires over a period of 24 months. The variables analyzed were age, gender, attack (breed, dog owner's, place and time of the accident, presence or absence of parents at the time of the accident), admission (type of injury, treatment), family (number of siblings, history of sibling injury and family type), previous pet safety education and environment features (pregnant or employed mother, recent birth, number of siblings). Information was collected from parents at the time of admission. Results. The accident occurred at home in 18 cases (86%). The time of the accident was between 03:00- 08:00 p.m. in 12 children (57%). Cross breed dogs caused the attacks in 14 cases (67%); they were owned by the family in 16 cases (76%) and by a neighbor in 5. In 9 cases there were no adult supervision when the attack occurred (64%). The mothers were pregnant and other five have had a child in the previous 4 months. In addition, seven women had a work. In 12/21 families, one of their children had experienced an accident previously (5 dog bites). Only one family had received some type of advice on accident prevention from the health team. Conclusions. The majority of facial dog bite injuries occurred among children aged 1-4 years whose wounds were inflicted by a family dog at home. A history of injuries in a sibling was recorded in 12/ 21 families (5 were dog bites). Nearly all the families had not received information about accident prevention.

Keywords : Dog bites; Children; Face.

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