It would be very hard to prevent dog bites because dogs are the most common animal companions of man. Dog bites that are most common in children are often caused by the family's own dog. What do you do to treat a dog bite?
First aid must be administered on dog bite wounds to prevent infection but treatment must not be started until the dog is removed to prevent further attacks. A dog bite can either be deep puncture wound or lacerations. Because bacteria is injected when the dog sinks the teeth to the flesh, it is common for puncture wounds to get infected. Lacerations occur when the dog's teeth tear away the skin.
Profuse bleeding is not common in puncture wounds thus further bleeding must be allowed for a few minutes so that that bacteria injected by the dog's teeth will be removed from the wound. Lacerations commonly bleed profusely. By applying direct pressure on the wound, bleeding can be stopped. To prevent infection, wounds resulting from dog bites must be thoroughly cleaned.
Dog bites can cause skin lacerations that need to be sutured but before taking the victim to a medical facility the bite wound must be cleaned thoroughly as bacteria allowed to stay inside the skin for several hours will have an opportunity to cause infection. The risk of infection can be minimized by washing the bite wound with an antibacterial soap for about five minutes. Before covering the bite wound with sterile gauze, apply a generous amount of antibiotic ointment. As expected, a person with dog bite wounds would be in pain. The pain that is mostly caused by the swelling will be minimized with an application of ice compress on the bite wound.
Rabies would always be a concern with dog bites especially if the immunization status of the dog is unknown. Dog bite victims of stray dogs with an unknown rabies immunization status have to undergo rabies immunization therapy .
