Investigation of the characteristics and epidemiology of animal bites-a multicenter study Animal bite epidemiology: A multicenter study

Aim: This study evaluated applications due to contact with animals that occurred in a metropolitan city center and a rural district center and aimed to compare patients' demographic and medical conditions in order to determine the risk factors for animal attacks. Material and Methods: This study was conducted retrospectively and was multicenter. Patients who had been attacked by cats, dogs, and other animals (horses, cows, donkeys) and therefore admitted to the emergency department for the first time were included in this study. The obtained data from the city center and the district center were compared. Results: In the comparison of the data from the two centers, the findings showed that while the rate of female patients (52.69%) was higher in the city center, the majority of the patients who applied to the emergency department in the district center were male (69.92%) (p<0.00). It was observed that lower extremity injuries (35.91%) were more common in the city center in terms of the injured area, and biting injuries were higher (64.09%) regarding injury type. Discussion: As in our country, in countries where the number of stray animals is high, animal vaccinations cannot be administered fully and adequately. Algorithms have been developed to create a common approach to animal bites in our country. However, different approaches and treatment protocols can be encountered in the world. These differences may be due to geographical, sociocultural, and socioeconomic reasons. Therefore, regarding animal contact identifying at-risk groups may contribute to reducing animal attacks. In this study, to our knowledge, for the first time, the risk factors for exposure to animal attacks in rural and urban areas were investigated in the literature.