"It is estimated the half of Americans will be bitten by either an animal or another human at some point in their life. The true incidence of mammalian bites is unknown, however, it is estimated that 2 million Americans are bitten every year and that about half of these come to the Emergency Department. These account for 5% of traumatic wounds seen in the ED, and over 10,000 patients require admission yearly.
It is estimated that these patients cost the healthcare system $850 million yearly." In a recent FOAMed article, second year resident Dr. Erin Rizzo and ED attending Dr. Jaryd Zummer flesh out the details of evaluation and management of mammalian bites in the Emergency Department. Click here to read the emDocs article from October 12, 2020 in its entirety: