* Americans own large numbers of pet animals. From a survey
of over 54,000 households conducted in January 2002, the following
data are available:
- 58.3% of all households owned at least one pet.
-- 36.1% owned dogs
-- 31.6% owned cats
- It is estimated that there are 52.5-68million dogs and 57 million
cats kept as pets in the U.S.
* Given these large numbers of pets, it is perhaps not surprising
that animal bites are numerically the most common zoonosis!
Some statistics to consider:
- Two to 4.7 million animal bites occur each year in the U.S.
- One out of every 2 people in the U.S. will be bitten by a
dog or cat during their lifetime.
- Bites result in 334,000-368,000 emergency room (ER) visits/year,
representing approximately 0.4-1.5% of all ER visits, at an annual
cost of approximately $100-165 million dollars in health care
expenses and lost income.
- About 1-1.8% of bites require hospitalization.
- The majority of bites are from dogs (80%).
- 30-85% of bites are due to a family's own or a neighbor's
animal.
- Children are the most frequent victims of dog bites, with
5-9 year-old boys having the highest incidence.
- From 1979-1996, dog bites resulted in >300 deaths in the
U.S.
- There is little evidence for specific breed predilections
in the overall prevalence of bite incidents. However, pit bull-type
dogs and Rottweilers are responsible for >50% of FATAL attacks.
- 80% of deaths in 1995-1996 were among kids <11 years of
age.
- Men are more frequently bitten by dogs than are woman (3:1),
whereas woman are more frequently bitten by cats (3:1).
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