Risk factors associated with infection in patients sustaining dog bites to the face

Animal Bite Injuries to the Face: A Retrospective Evaluation of 111 Cases

“…Guo et al also identified soft tissue injuries to the cheek to be more at risk for infection compared to injuries to other facial areas, independent of the cause of the accident [24]. Stanbouly et al identified the cheeks as the most frequent site to develop open wounds caused by dog bites and that open wounds are more likely to develop an infection following dog bites [18]. We suppose the complex multi-layer anatomy of the cheek to be responsible for that.…”

“…This is likely caused by the unintentionally threatening and provoking behaviour of children against dogs [3]. Another reason is probably the smaller size of children and their faces being in the range of medium-and large-sized dogs [18]. In this context, children are reported to be two times more likely to suffer a periorbital injury from dog attacks when compared to adults [19].…”

“…Common pathogens associated with animal bites include Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Pasteurella, Capnocytophaga, Moraxella, Corynebacterium, Neisseria and Anaerobic bacteria [11]. Dog bites can result in the transmission of numerous pathogens including Rabies lyssavirus (i.e., rabies), Clostridium tetani (i.e., tetanus), Pasteurella spp., Capnocytophaga canimorsus, Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, Prevotella spp., Propionibacterium, Peptostreptococcus, Eikenella corrodens and Streptococcus pyogenes, among others [18,29]. Amoxicillin with clavulanic acid is generally considered the first-line prophylactic treatment for animal bites [21,30,31].…”