MONDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Emergency departments find human bite wounds difficult to manage, according to a report published in the July Issue of the Emergency Medicine Journal.
Francis P. Henry, M.D., of St James's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, and colleagues studied 92 patients with 96 bite wounds who were referred to a plastic surgery unit. Most of the subjects were male (92 percent), had been consuming alcohol (86 percent) and were bitten during a weekend or public holiday (70 percent).
The researchers found that facial wounds accounted for 70 percent of injuries, with the ear the most common target (65 percent). The rest of the injuries occurred in the upper extremities. They also found that 18 (20 percent) of patients developed infection and that infection was more common among those who presented more than 12 hours after being bitten.
"Current opinion advocates thorough washout, debridement and primary repair of bite injuries. Antibiotic cover is recommended given the risk of infection," the authors write. "While cosmesis tends to be a primary concern on initial assessment of facial injuries, we have noted a poor compliance with follow-up care. In conclusion, bite wounds present a challenge to any emergency department given the many issues involved in their management. Oversight of any of these issues may result in a potentially devastating complication involving function, infection or cosmesis."
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