Neighbor's 20kg dog bit him and needed nearly 70 stitches

Recently, the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases informed that it had just received emergency treatment for a 68-year-old female patient (Dong Anh, Hanoi ) who was attacked by a dog and suffered serious injuries.

The patient's family said the old woman was sweeping the alley when she was suddenly attacked by the neighbor's dog (weighing more than 20kg).

The dog was very aggressive, continuously biting her face, arms and legs. Her face was especially badly injured. Her family took her to a nearby medical facility for first aid, then she was transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases for surgery.

According to Dr. Vu Giang An - Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the victim was bitten by a dog in the face, all the wounds were open and bleeding profusely.

"At the mouth area, the entire lower lip was torn, leading to the oral cavity. Above the eye area, there was a wound from the lower eyelid of the left eye down to the nostril, exposing the bone. Because the wound was so large, we had to stitch nearly 70 stitches.

These wounds have a very high risk of infection, so during the procedure, the doctor must be very careful and meticulous in cutting, cleaning and avoiding infection. Currently, after surgery, the patient is stable and has been instructed to get tetanus shots, rabies shots and anti-rabies serum," Dr. An informed.

The old woman was vaccinated and given rabies serum - Photo: Provided by the hospital

Doctor Tran Quang Dai, Vaccination Consulting Department - Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, added that in the case of the old woman, due to the wound on the face, in addition to tetanus vaccination, the patient needs to be fully vaccinated against rabies, both vaccine and anti-rabies serum.

"Recently, the hospital has regularly received many cases of people coming for rabies vaccination due to bites from dogs, cats and wild animals. This morning, 20 people came for rabies vaccination and 5 cases for rabies serum injection.

Therefore, to avoid unfortunate cases, people who are bitten by dogs should go to a medical facility for first aid, cleaning, disinfecting the wound and getting advice on rabies vaccination. Especially, get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"If people are bitten by dogs in areas such as the head, face, neck, genitals, hands, feet, or in cases of multiple trauma with large, deep wounds, they must immediately get rabies vaccination, with full rabies vaccine and anti-rabies serum," Dr. Dai recommended.

In particular, the hot summer is the time when infectious diseases can break out, especially rabies. Therefore, people should not be subjective, households with dogs should have them fully vaccinated. When letting dogs out, they should be muzzled to prevent disease for the community.

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