Bites to humans caused by stray and owned dogs in Belgrade

Abstract

The study aimed to estimate the incidence of bites caused by stray and owned dogs in the population of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia in the period from 1st January 2003 to 31st December 2006. Also, the seasonal influence on dog biting was estimated for the same time period. All data on total, stray and owned dog bites in Belgrade in the analyzed period were obtained from the Institute for Infectious and Tropical Diseases of The Medical School in Belgrade and from the Secretariat for Environmental Protection of the City Assembly of Belgrade. The average annual incidence of bites caused by strays was 95.64 per 100 000 residents; 52.84 per 100 000 residents caused by owned dogs and 148.48 per 100 000 residents caused by both categories of dogs. In this period stray dogs caused a significantly higher (P<0.0001) number of bites to humans than owned dogs. The average value for dog bites was 1507.50±143.57/year for strays and 832.75±211.31/year for owned dogs. The highest average value of total dog bites was observed in the spring months in 2005 (263.67±28.01), as well in the spring months (497.33 ± 36.53) for two consecutive years (2005 and 2006). From the aspect of dog bites our results point to the following risk factors for residents in the Belgrade area: the first is the population of stray dogs without owners and the second is the population of irresponsible and uneducated owners of dogs

Children are victims of dog bites due to irresponsible dog ownership, parenthood, and managers of school institutions in Serbia

“…At the same time, the topic of dog bites to children in Serbia is not covered in the scientific and professional literature. Two articles on dog bites previously were published by Serbian authors (Vučinić et al, 2008;Kržanović, 2010). Therefore, all newspaper reports with sufficient data on dog bites can be useful in the initial phase of research on this problem.…”

Free-Roaming Dogs Control Activities in One Italian Province (2000-2013): Is the Implemented Approach Effective?

“…This may be due to people being more concerned about strays as carriers of diseases or conversely, because only serious bites are likely to be reported by victims of a family dog (17,21). Also, previous works have highlighted how the reduction of the number of domestic animals roaming in the community could considerably help in preventing most bite injuries (19,22).…”