[Dog bite accidents in a children hospital at Lima, Peru. Retrospective study from 1995 - 2009]

From 1995 to 2009, 206 cases of dog bites were recorded among hospitalized patients at the Children National Health of, Lima-Peru. The median of age was 4 years, and for hospitalization time was 3 days. Most patients were males (61.7 %). The bites occurred in the house of a third person (39.3 %), on the street (33.5 %), or in the victim's house (27.2 %). A 66.5 % of the bites were provoked and 88.8 % were from animals known to the victim. The dog breed was recognized in 34 % (52.9 % were mongrel dogs). Multiple lesions were identified in 79.1 %, and the most frequently bitten areas were head and neck (79.1 %). Complications were reported in 20.4 % and aesthetic sequelae in 94.7 %.