[Dog bites, a current problem in our environment]

Dog bites are frequent reason for consultation in pediatrics emergency department. Despite in our environment dog bites are rarely lethal, some of these accidents can have serious aesthetics consequences. The main goal of this article is to analyze dog bites casuistry and their impact in our community.

Retrospective review of patients treated for dog bite in a tertiary pediatric center between 2013-2018. We studied patient's demographic variables, bite localization, dog-patient relationship, antibiotic therapy, need for admission, complications and secondary sequelae.

256 cases were analyzed (average age 6.4 years), 133 boys (51.9%) and 123 girls (48%). In 153 cases, the aggressor dog was from the patient's familiar environment (59.8%). The most frequent location of the wounds was head and neck (94.1%), followed by extremities (4.7%) and genitals (1.6%). In 227 cases (88.7%) antibiotics were administered. Wound infection was the most frequent complication, occurring in 5 patients (2%). 20 patients (7.8%) required hospital admission with a mean stay of 1.6 days. Aesthetic sequelae were described in 10 cases (3.9%), 7 of which required correcting surgery.

Dog bites persist as a frequent reason for medical consultation, most of them are provoked by patient familiar dogs. Wound infection represents the major complication, and the facial aesthetic sequelae are the most frequent indication for surgical intervention. We consider due to the amount of dog bites and their sequelae, the inclusion of preventive measures against these accidents in home prevention guidelines could be useful to reduce the incidence of these injuries.