Dog bite accidents in a children hospital at Lima, Peru. Retrospective study from 1995-2009

From 1995 to 2009, 206 cases of dog bites were recorded among hospitalized patients at the Children National Health of, Lima-Peru. The median of age was 4 years, and for hospitalization time was 3 days. Most patients were males (61.7%). The bites occurred in the house of a third person (39.3%), on the street (33.5%), or in the victim's house (27.2%). A 66.5% of the bites were provoked and 88.8% were from animals known to the victim. The dog breed was recognized in 34% (52.9% were mongrel dogs). Multiple lesions were identified in 79.1%, and the most frequently bitten areas were head and neck (79.1%). Complications were reported in 20.4% and aesthetic sequelae in 94.7%.