The emergency duty shift of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital has just received a 75-year-old female patient who was seriously injured by a dog bite.
MSc.BS Nguyen Moc Son - Department of Upper Branch Surgery and Sports Medicine shared: Initial examination showed that the two hands were the most severely damaged areas: the right hand had an open lower head fracture of the radius with many small wounds scattered from the forearm to the hand; the left hand recorded complex wounds in the hand area, open fractures of the hand-finger joints, accompanied by tendon damage, risk of loss of hand movement function if not intervened in time.
The patient also had multiple soft tissue wounds in the forearm - hand area on both sides, right knee and left ankle, showing severe attack and wide area of injury.
Immediately after receiving the patient, the on-duty team urgently performed first aid, wound cleaning, bandaging, comprehensive assessment of bone damage, soft tissue, tendons and risk of infection, and quickly completed the file to take the patient to the emergency operating room.
Doctors emphasize that injuries caused by animal bites are severe, especially dangerous, because wounds are often dirty, bruised, bacteria invade deep into tissues, bones, tendons, muscles and can cause widespread infection, sepsis, necrosis if treated slowly.
MSc.BS Nguyen Moc Son and the on-duty team comprehensively treated wounds on both arms and legs, intervened in bone and soft tissue lesions, and controlled the risk of infection.
Currently, the patient has passed the critical stage, the condition is temporarily stable and will be transferred to another hospital for further treatment, and at the same time, serum and rabies vaccination will be performed according to the protocol.
Doctors recommend that people need to strictly manage pets, absolutely do not let dogs roam freely, to avoid dangerous accidents, especially for the elderly and children. Pet owners must get rabies vaccination fully and on schedule for pets. When unfortunately bitten by a dog, it is necessary to treat the wound properly and go to a medical facility immediately, do not be subjective even if the wound is small, because the consequences can be life-threatening and leave serious sequelae.
Hospital experts warn: Animal bite wounds in the head, face, and neck are classified into the group of most urgent injuries. This is an area that concentrates many large blood vessels, important nerves and respiratory tracts, when bitten, it can cause massive bleeding, nerve damage, directly threatening life if not treated promptly.
In particular, bite wounds in the head – face – neck area have a very high risk of rabies virus transmission due to the short distance from the wound site to the central nervous system, and the incubation time can be significantly shortened.
More worryingly, animal bite wounds also pose a risk of rabies. According to studies, the mortality rate in people bitten by rabid animals can be up to 90-100% if not promptly prevented with serum and rabies vaccine.
Therefore, all cases of dog bites, especially deep wounds, open fractures, tendon and bone damage, are classified as medical emergency.
