A recent survey of patients attending an Accident and Emergency (A&E) department serving several economically depressed Thanet coastal towns found that around 3 per 1000 of the resident population attended each year for the treat ment of dog bite injuries (Thomas and Banks, 1990). We report a study of dog bite injuries treated in the A& E department serving Salisbury, a small prosperous Cathedral city, and surrounding villages. In comparison with Thanet, age specific incidence rates for dog bites show a similar pattern but only about half the overall incidence. Some reasons for these findings are suggested and extrapolations for national treatment figures are made.
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References
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Talbot, D. (1985). Medical hazards from dogs. British Medical Journal: 291: 280
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Thomas, J.F. and Banks, J. (1990). A survey of dog bites in Thanet. J. Roy. Soc. Health, 5, 173.
