Cat bites are more serious than you think

Cat bites views emergencies lead after three to hospitalization, and in the operating room in two out of three cases , reports a study in a U.S. hospital .

And if we underestimated the cat bites ? This is the question that comes to mind when you discover the study just published Dr. Brian Carlsen in the Journal of Hand Surgery. With colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (USA ) , he returned records 193 patients treated between 2009 and 2011. Half arrived by emergencies , the rest through general practice . To the surprise of American surgeons , nearly one out of three times it took the victim to hospital (on average three days) , and it is even finished in the operating room for two-thirds of them in order to properly clean the wound. In France , the number of bites is estimated between 250,000 and 500,000 , all types of animals occurring each year. They lead to nearly 70,000 care utilization .
frequent complications

Cat bites , which account for 10-15 % of all accidents are indeed considered dirty wounds . For cat's saliva is packed with germs that are not exactly friends of man. The most common, common also to cats and dogs, is Pasteurella multocida , which is within the normal 70 to 90 % of cats oral flora . This is also the germ that was found on 19 of 50 made ​​in bacteriological cultures performed in the U.S. study . " Cats have small sharp teeth that can penetrate deep into the soft tissue and inoculating bacteria in enclosed spaces , such as sheaths of tendons, joints, bones." A bit like a dirty needle was stuck deep into the flesh. Hence the need for an immediate and thorough washing of the wound with soap and water .

Moreover, the frequent complications were found with 6 abscesses, 14 tendon injuries , nerve damage 2 and 14 reductions joint mobility during follow-up visits . The authors report that the presence of swelling, redness or bite in sensitive areas ( joint tendon) are the three risk factors for complications that warrant aggressive treatment , including antibiotics. The majority of cat bites occur in the hands or wrists , and in the study of the Mayo Clinic, 44 % of injuries were also produced at a tendon or joint . The danger here is that the infection does not damage these structures beyond the single inflammatory reaction.

For simple scratch , the recommended action is to clean the wound with soap and water or disinfectant .