Share:
High health risk When people bite people
Luis Suárez's biting attack at last year's FIFA World Cup tracked millions of people on screen at home. The footballer from Uruguay was punished for that, but usually the bite in the shoulder of the Italian Giorgio Chiellini was dismissed but only with funny comments. Bites from humans are by no means harmless, they are often even more dangerous than dog bites.
People bite people
In Germany, around 28 million pets are kept, including more than 11 million cats and nearly seven million dogs. As a rule, they have a positive impact on our health because dealing with them also reduces stress. But pets can also make us sick, for example by transmitting dangerous infections through bites or scratches. However bite not only animals, but also humans. And not just footballers. Sometimes people bite each other in quarrels, such as children or as a defensive measure. Others include bites in their love games. Whatever the reasons for a bite from another person, human bites are far more dangerous than dog bites. This reports the "world" in a recent post.
Consequences of human bites. Image: Tharakorn - fotolia More dangerous than dog bites
According to this, up to 25 percent of the cases after a bite of the human body lead to an infection, but only ten percent after dog bites. A team of lawyers, surgeons and microbiologists headed by Professor Karin Rothe of the Berlin University Hospital Charité now reports in the "Deutsches Ärzteblatt" who in Germany bites whom, how often and under what circumstances and what consequences this has. In all cases, regardless of the causer, the viruses, bacteria or even parasites transmitted during a bite can lead to life-threatening infections. For the optimal treatment of severe inflammation, it is very important to know which species is the causative agent.
Hundreds of thousands of bite injuries per year
In Germany, bite wounds are not reportable. According to the "World" report, around 3,600 cases of surgical primary care are reported annually to the accident insurance institutions. But the real number should be much higher. Based on animal husbandry surveys, experts estimate that the number of annual bites is at least 10 times higher. Calculated on the basis of the population, the results are similar to those in other European countries. By contrast, they are much higher in the USA. Every year, around 800,000 dog bites are medically treated there. However, the physicians of the Charité could not determine exact numbers, how often in Germany people bite another person. In the US, about 20 percent of all bites are caused by humans in cities.
Bite injuries due to sexual offenses in the first place
Bite injuries by humans are not uncommon in Germany. For example, in recent years, violent attacks by patients on doctors and nurses have increased significantly, including bites. As the "world" writes, it is well known from forensic examinations why people bite other people. According to this, sexual offenses come first, followed by child maltreatment and defensive bites against an actual or supposed attacker, for example, in clashes between adolescents or between children. Forensic doctors can also read the age of the bite on the bite impression.
Harmless-looking injuries can be dangerous
With every bite injury, pathogens are transported into the skin or underlying tissue because the mouth and teeth are always populated by pathogens. And even if the wound looks harmless at first, bacteria may have already lodged in deeper tissue layers. According to the Charité scientists, 60 to 80 percent of bites are caused by dogs, with nine out of ten having caught their own dog or one known to the dog. In children, the injuries are often found on the face, neck or neck; in adults, the legs are usually injured. In the case of bite injuries, pathogens are transported in tissue pockets that are surrounded by dead cells and in which only a small amount of oxygen gets into them. Particularly aggressive germs multiply there, so that a localized wound infection can develop a generalized infectious disease.
After animal and human bites to the doctor
The risk of spread of the pathogens is particularly high in infants and people with weakened immune systems. Very dangerous is the bacterium Capnocytophaga canimorsus, which releases in human tissue a substance that inactivates a type of white blood cells (the neutrophilic leukocytes). These usually eat bacteria or eliminate microbial residues. Capnocytophaga canimorsus is threatened with severe infections. The consequences can range to a generalized blood poisoning. When people are bitten by an animal, most sufferers turn to a doctor for fear of illness, such as rabies. Since biting people can be more dangerous than biting animals, you should also consult a doctor after a bite. (Ag)