Public health reports
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Public health reports · Jan 1985
Case ReportsSevere attacks by dogs: characteristics of the dogs, the victims, and the attack settings.
Sixteen incidents involving dog bites fitting the description "severe" were identified among 5,711 dog bite incidents reported to health departments in five South Carolina counties (population 750,912 in 1980) between July 1, 1979, and June 30, 1982. A "severe" attack was defined as one in which the dog "repeatedly bit or vigorously shook its victim, and the victim or the person intervening had extreme difficulty terminating the attack." Information from health department records was clarified by interviews with animal control officers, health and police officials, and persons with firsthand knowledge of the events. Investigation disclosed that the dogs involved in the 16 severe attacks were reproductively intact males. ⋯ The characteristics of these attacks, only one of which proved fatal, were similar in many respects to those that have been reported for other dog bite incidents that resulted in fatalities. On the basis of this study, the author estimates that a risk of 2 fatalities per 1,000 reported dog bites may exist nationwide. Suggestions made for the prevention of severe attacks focus on changing the behavior of both potential canine attackers and potential victims.