Although cat bites account for only 10 to 15
percent of animal bites treated in emergency rooms, they pose special
infection risks.
Dog bites, the most common bites treated, can
tear flesh and break bones, but they create open wounds that are easy
to clean and less likely to become infected than the puncture wounds
created by cats, which usually affect the hand and can inject bacteria
into tendons and bones.
In a three-year retrospective study published in the February issue of The Journal of Hand Surgery, researchers reviewed records of 193 people who came to Mayo Clinic Hospital with cat bites to the hand.
Thirty-six victims were immediately admitted
to the hospital, where they stayed an average of three days. Another 154
were treated with oral antibiotics as outpatients, although 21 of them
eventually had to be hospitalized. Complications included nerve
involvement, abscesses and loss of joint mobility.
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