Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in General Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Correspondence
Address reprint requests to Douglas A. Boenning, MD, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St and Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104.
Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in General Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Correspondence
Address reprint requests to Douglas A. Boenning, MD, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St and Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Assistant Director of the Emergency Department, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Director, Microbiology Laboratory, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
, PhD
‡Currently Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
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Abstract
Fifty-five children with nonfacial dog bites were prospectively studied. Patients were assigned to an experimental group receiving oral penicillin or a control group receiving local wound care only. Wounds were cultured for anaerobic and aerobic flora prior to cleansing. Results showed that most children were bitten on an extremity by a familiar dog, sustained simple injuries, and sought prompt medical attention. The overall infection rate was 3.6%, with one patient in each group developing an infection. The most frequently recovered organisms were normal skin flora. No Pasteurella multocida were isolated. Forty percent of cultures yielded potential pathogens. Despite this finding, initial cultures of dog bite wounds had no value in predicting subsequent infection. This study suggests that routine use of prophylactic penicillin is not required for simple nonfacial dog bites in children.
‡