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Bites - human and animal - Management
How do I treat an animal bite that has become infected?
- Send a pus or deep wound swab for culture (state on the form that the swab is from an infected animal bite).
- Treat empirically with oral antibiotics for 7 days.
- Admit anyone who has a severe infection or who is systemically unwell since intravenous antibiotics may be required.
Basis for recommendation
- These recommendations are based on expert opinion from the published literature [HPA, 2006c]. CKS found no good quality randomized controlled trials that assessed the use of antibiotics for people with infected wound bites. However they are generally believed to be effective.
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