Animal related injuries treated at the Department of Trauma and Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin

Despite urbanization of contemporary society and limitation on the environmental areas, the threat of animal attacks on people is still an important social and medical problem. Although they usually do not have serious consequences, they are nevertheless disturbing and alarming enough to make people seek professional, medical help. The aim of this study was to estimate the epidemiology and the risk rate of animal related injuries in the urban and rural population, as well as to select the characteristics of such injuries, which are distinguishable from injuries caused by other factors. The work presents a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 1,872 patients treated at the Department of Trauma and Emergency Department between 2001-2004, who suffered from animal related injuries. Our analysis led to the following conclusions: Most animal related injuries, reported to doctors, are mild injuries. The threat of animal attack is similar in urban and in rural areas, and concerns mostly men between the ages of 22-40. Injuries caused by large animals, such as a horse or a cow, require hospitalization and should be considered as high-energy injuries. The vast majority were patients who after the treatment could return to their social and occupational activities; the mortality rate in hospitalized patients with animal related injuries was higher then in other injuries, but the difference was statistically irrelevant.