Forensic medical evaluation of dog bite injury cases admitted to a university hospital

Aim: This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining the demographic characteristics of cases presenting to the hospital due to dog bites, the anatomical locations of the wounds, rabies prophylaxis, and whether they were evaluated as forensic cases. Materials and Methods: During a three-year period, the epicrisis reports of patients admitted to Şanlıurfa Harran University Hospital with diagnosis codes for dog bites or strikes according to ICD-10 were retrospectively reviewed along with records in the fonet system. Results: The average age of the 297 cases in our study was 17.15±14.82. Among the cases, 76.1% were male, 66.0% were children under 18 years old. The highest number of admissions occurred in the fall season with 90 cases (30.3%) and December had the highest number of cases with 46 (15.5%). The most frequently injured body part was the hands (21.5%). Rabies vaccination was administered to 287 cases (96.6%), it was observed that a judicial report was prepared for 22 of 297 cases (7.4%). Conclusion: Dog bites remain a significant public health issue in our country. Physicians encounter a considerable number of dog bite cases during hospital admissions. Institutional training is necessary for both medical and forensic evaluations of dog bites.