The spectrum of animal related injuries managed at a major trauma centre in South Africa
| dc.contributor.author | Wessels, E. U. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Kong, V. Y. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Buitendag, J. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Moffatt, S. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Ras, A. B. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Ras, M. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Smith, M. T. D. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Laing, G. L. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Bruce, J. L. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Bekker, W. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Manchev, V. | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Clarke, D. L. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-03-08T08:22:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-03-08T08:22:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
| dc.description | CITATION: Wessels, E. U., et al. 2019. The spectrum of animal related injuries managed at a major trauma centre in South Africa. South African Journal of Surgery, 57(3):54-58, doi:10.17159/2078-5151/2019/v57n3a2854 . | |
| dc.description | The original publication is available at http://www.scielo.org.za | |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Humans come into contact and interact with an array of animals in a number of areas and environments. We set out to review our experience with animal-related injuries in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa METHODS: All patients who sustained an injury secondary to an interaction with an animal in the period December 2012-December 2017 were identified from the Hybrid Electronic Medical Registry (HEMR RESULTS: There were 104 patients in the study sample. The mean age of patients in the study was 32.8 years, with a range from 1 to 76 years old. 75% (n = 78) were male and 25% (n = 26) female. Out of the 104 animal-related injuries, 67 were blunt trauma, 39 penetrating trauma and 3 a combination of blunt and penetrating trauma. The species causing trauma included dogs (53), horses (29), cows (18), buffalo (1), warthog (1), impala (1) and a single goat (1). The median time from injury to hospitalisation was 46.62 hours (range from 0 to 504 hours). Injuries occurred to the head (n = 32), face (n = 9), neck (n = 32), abdomen (n = 22), urogenital system (n = 6), upper limb (n = 39) and lower limb (n = 39). The Injury Severity Score (ISS) mean for the patients was 8.16, the range 1-4, the median 9 and the standard deviation 6.88. In 49 patients the treatment was non-operative. In the remaining 55 patients, a total of 68 operative procedures were required. Operations included wound debridement/surgical washout (n = 38), laparotomy (n = 9), arterial repair/ligation (n = 8), skin graft (n = 4), craniotomy (n = 5), fasciotomy (n = 2), amputation (n = 1), and placement of an ICP monitor (n = 1). 49 of these operations were for patients with dog bite injuries. The mean hospital stay was 0.13 days with a range of 0-4 days. Four patients were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and two patients died CONCLUSION: Human interactions with animals may result in injuries which require surgical treatment. The most common animal injury is a dog bite but in the case of the larger domestic farm animals, blunt force type injuries and goring can result in significant injuries which require complex surgical interventions. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.uri | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23612019000300010&lng=en&nrm=iso | |
| dc.description.version | Publishers version | |
| dc.format.extent | 5 pages | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.citation | Wessels, E. U., et al. 2019. The spectrum of animal related injuries managed at a major trauma centre in South Africa. South African Journal of Surgery, 57(3):54-58, doi:10.17159/2078-5151/2019/v57n3a2854 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2078-5151 (online) | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0038-2361 (print) | |
| dc.identifier.other | doi:10.17159/2078-5151/2019/v57n3a2854 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109630 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Health and Medical Publishing Group | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Authors retain copyright | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Animal-related injuries | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Animal-human relationships | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Trauma surgery | en_ZA |
| dc.title | The spectrum of animal related injuries managed at a major trauma centre in South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Article | en_ZA |