%0 Journal Article
%T Animal and human bite injuries: a 5-year retrospective study in a large urban public hospital in Venezuela
%J Oral and maxillofacial surgery
%D 2017
%A Gelvez, Muñoz
%A Enrique, Ruben
%A Gajos, Golaszewski
%A Bladimir, Jose
%A Carvajal, Diaz
%A Luis, Alvaro
%V 21
%N 4
%P 425-428
%X INTRODUCTION: Animal bite injuries to the head and neck regions are an important public health problem. Most of these bites are from dogs. A 10-year retrospective study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of animal and human bites. <br><br>MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was done from January 2011 to December 2016 and included 387 patients with a mean age of 21.51 years. Data collection included age, sex, days of hospitalization, lesion type, and clinical management. <br><br>RESULTS: Majority of patients were in age group of 21-29 years, followed by 31-55 years. Out of the total 281 patients, 42 patients (51.60%) were males and 34 patients (48.40%) were females. Mean hospital stay was 7.2 days with a minimum of 5 days and a maximum of 12 days. Surgical management included cleansing and primary closure of the wound. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the use of empiric antibiotic prophylaxis is essential for management of facial animal bite, and the antibiotic of first choice is amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. The aim of immediate surgical repair (< 6 h) is to avoid infections. The persistence of dog bite is public health problem in Venezuela.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group
%@ 1865-1550
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10006-017-0650-1