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General Discussion / Re: Aftermath of a dog bite
« on: Today at 03:16:42 pm »
Drinkable water is fine. Initially, quantity is important. You're not trying to sterilize the site, you're trying to flush away what ever you can. Soap is good too. Depending on the type of wound, cleaning can be a challenge. Puncture wounds are more problematic. Clean off as much as you can.
Three things need to be addressed:
1) Your tetanus status. For clean wounds, 10 years is the limit. For dirty wounds, five years. Bite wounds are dirty. If you don't know, and don't have an easy way to find out you status, just get the shot.
2) Rabies status - Gotta get this info. If you're bitten by a stray or a dog that runs away and you're unlikely to be able to find the owner, your stuck and you're going to need rabies prophylaxis (rabies immune globulin (weight based) and the rabies vaccine, series of four shots on Days 0, 3, 7 and 14). So you're going to need to be near towns large enough to have a clinic that carries rabies vaccine. This is the most important reason for contacting the owner, 911 or animal control. If untreated, rabies is fatal. Determining the status is not emergent, but urgent. My understanding is that some foreign countries do not routinely stock rabies immune globulin. If going to a remote place, you may wish to discuss with your PMD (or a Travel Medicine specialist), the advisability of pre-exposure prophylaxis.
3) Risk of infection - Dog bites may not be as bad as human bites and cat bites, but all bites are risky. Most important is to clean the site impeccably. If the site does become infected, the oral antibiotics needed are ones that are typically readily available. Augmentin is the standard unless you have a penicillin allergy.
Three things need to be addressed:
1) Your tetanus status. For clean wounds, 10 years is the limit. For dirty wounds, five years. Bite wounds are dirty. If you don't know, and don't have an easy way to find out you status, just get the shot.
2) Rabies status - Gotta get this info. If you're bitten by a stray or a dog that runs away and you're unlikely to be able to find the owner, your stuck and you're going to need rabies prophylaxis (rabies immune globulin (weight based) and the rabies vaccine, series of four shots on Days 0, 3, 7 and 14). So you're going to need to be near towns large enough to have a clinic that carries rabies vaccine. This is the most important reason for contacting the owner, 911 or animal control. If untreated, rabies is fatal. Determining the status is not emergent, but urgent. My understanding is that some foreign countries do not routinely stock rabies immune globulin. If going to a remote place, you may wish to discuss with your PMD (or a Travel Medicine specialist), the advisability of pre-exposure prophylaxis.
3) Risk of infection - Dog bites may not be as bad as human bites and cat bites, but all bites are risky. Most important is to clean the site impeccably. If the site does become infected, the oral antibiotics needed are ones that are typically readily available. Augmentin is the standard unless you have a penicillin allergy.