Dog Bite Infection: Rabies
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral infection that is transmitted through a scratch or bite, usually from an infected animal. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus ultimately “spreads to the central nervous system” and leads to “progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.”
Early symptoms of the disease include mild fevers, headaches, lethargy, and general weakness. As the disease worsens, symptoms will get progressively worse and may include:
After the dog bite, animal control will most likely monitor the animal for up to 10 days to determine if signs of rabies are present. If signs do exist, you should get tested and vaccinated immediately to prevent or fight a rabies infection. A bite from a rabies infected dog is almost always fatal. If you need to seek legal counsel, call a dog bite attorney from our personal injury law firm.
Level 3 Bite – One to four tooth punctures from a single bite with no puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. At this point, the dog can present a real threat to other people and animals. The majority of my aggression cases fall into this level.
Level 4 Bite – One to four punctures from a single bite with at least one puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. The person or dog bitten may also have deep bruising around the wound or wounds from the dog shaking its head from side to side. At this level, the red warning flag needs to go up. The dog needs to be kept away from people and other animals until the situation can be assessed by a professional.
Level One:
When a dog snaps at the air in front of a human or another dog, that is a level one bite. This type of bite actually has no contact with the skin, but is rather a warning from the biting dog. A level one snap like this often occurs when a dog is put into a situation where it is frightened or cornered and wants the human or dog causing this distress to back away.
Top 7 Dog breeds with most FATAL dog bites.
Dog bites are no laughing matter. A Center for Disease Control study reports that every year there are more than 4 million reported dog bites in the United States alone. While many of these do not require professional medical attention, there are certainly cases that result in serious injury or illness if the dog passes along germs from the bite. Professionals often use Dr. Ian Dunbar’s Dog Bite Scale to categorize bites into six different types with varying degrees of seriousness. For dog bite victims and their loved ones, it is important to know what category their bite falls into.