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A Recipe for Dog Bite Injuries: Kids, Dogs and Warm Weather


Posted on Mar 17, 2009

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- If you and your child are romping in the park or enjoying a stroll on a warm spring day and a dog approaches, be ultra vigilant.

Children, warm weather, and dogs, even family dogs, don't mix well, according to a study conducted by pediatric otolaryngologists from the University at Buffalo's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Results show that young children are especially vulnerable to severe dog bites in the head and neck areas, and that there is a correlation between cases of dog bites and rising temperatures.

The study appears in the March 2009 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

The authors reviewed charts of the 84 children up to 19 years old who were treated for dog bites at Women and Children's Hospital in Buffalo from1999 – 2007.

Results show that the average age of injured children was six years. One-third of the bites occurred on the cheeks, 21 percent on the lips, and eight percent each on the nose and ears, results showed.

Sixty-four percent of the patients suffered more than one facial wound, and 40 percent of the total injuries had to be repaired in the operating room under general anesthesia.

Dog bites increased as the weather warmed, the researchers found, and a family pet was the culprit in 27 percent of the injuries.

Pit bull terriers were the breed most commonly reported or identified as the attacker, because of their notoriety. However, Behar notes that the breed of dog often wasn't known or wasn't recorded.

Health care providers should collect as much information as possible, including breed and sex of the dog, spay or neuter status, history of aggression, ownership and owner's use of restraint, time of the incident, the child's past history of dog bites, location of the incident and the dog's vaccination history.

"This information is important to be able to identify trends and develop and promote prevention strategies," says Behar.

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