Consultas por mordeduras de perro y seguimiento del animal en el sur de la ciudad de Salta, Argentina

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out based on consultations of patients seen in the emergency room of a central hospital in a new operational area in the south of the city of Salta (Argentina) with 26 health centers reporting to it and offering coverage to about 200 thousand inhabitants. For the same coverage area, we registered the number of dogs entered to the Municipal Offi ce of Zoonosis for observation, according to the Observation Charts of Biter Animals which are enabled when the informer comes to the Offi ce and shows a police report or medical certifi cate (from public or private sector). Age distribution of bitten patients is strongly asymmetric-positive, which confi rms that pediatric population is more vulnerable to animal attacks. When the relation between sex and age groups was analyzed, no association was found between these variables for groups of children and adolescents; so age was independent of the sex of the bitten person (?2= 3.15; p=0.6764). In groups age 20 and older, women were signifi cantly more affected than men (?2= 8.65; p=0.0033). In the period studied, a rate of 1 biter animal was observed according to the procedure, every 7 bites seen at the hospital.