Incidence of dog bite in Al Muthanna governorate including injuries and its clinical healing in the human

There are elevations in the number of stray dogs in different governorates in Iraq. Moreover, the number of people who are interested in keeping dog for life purpose has also risen. Every year, there are a number of populations contacted to animal bites throughout the country. Wounds due to dog bites are popular in different human ages, but are more common in children. A high rate of these dog bites affect different body locations, however, upper extremities are more common site. There is scarce information describing dog bites in Al Muthanna governorate, in addition to describe its healing process. Therefore, this study intends to report the incidence of dog bites in Al Muthanna governorate and to describe the clinical healing process of pet dog bites in their owner arm. The authors retrospectively reviewed the records of dog bites who seeked emergency department at Al Muthanns hospital in Samawah city from January 2016 to November 2016 (totally 11 months). During the study period, there were 176 people’s emergency department visits for dog bites. Among the 176 person with dog bites, there were 41female and 135 male with percentages of 23.295% and 76.704% respectively. Moreover, the incidence of dog bites was varied between the victims age group, there were 0 (0%), 5(3% ), 57 (32%), 88 (50% ) and 26 (15%) for less than one year, 1-4 years, 5-14 years, 15-45 years and more than 45 years respectively. The total population of Al Muthanna governorate was 775 X 1000 according to total estimation of Iraq (April 2009 IMF estimate). Accordingly, the total incidence rate of dog bites in Al Muthanna governorate/ 100.000 people was 22.709 % for the total population. One patient revealed clinical signs of rabies with percentage of incidence 0.568% for the total dog bites. Moreover, the percentage of rabies for total population for Al Muthanna governorate was 0.129/ 100.000. The time and healing process of dog bites extended for 3 weeks and left scar centrally depressed area. In conclusion, for the author’s knowledge this is the first study that approved the incidence of dog bites in Al Muthanna governorate. The higher incidence percentages of dog bites occur between the patients of age group 15-45 year and followed by 5-14 years. Moreover, the incidence rate of dog bites was higher in male than female. The study approved the incidence of rabies in one case between the total dog bites. The Authors recommended another future retrospective study that reviewed more years to determine the actual situation of the dog bites that act as a serious health problem in Al Muthanna as well as in another Iraqi governorates.