CAT BITTEN in Pregnancy

Animal bites in humans are a common problem in the United States, with two to five million occurring each year. The vast majority of animal bites are caused by dogs (85 to 90 percent), with the remainder caused by cats (5 to 10 percent) and rodents (2 to 3 percent). Children are bitten more often than adults. The most feared complication of an animal bite is rabies, although skin infection is the most common complication. In our community high risk clinic, we recently saw a pregnant patient, who also has diabetes, who had a “cat bite” reported to our nursing staff. On examination, it was more like she was mauled by the cat! Both her feet had significant scratches and bite marks. Are you up to date in your animal bite care algorithm? It's one of those occurrances that are low frequency but have potential high morbidity. So in this episode I thought we would review the care plan for a patient who has suffered a cat bite, or animal bite in general. Meow Meow.