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Bites - human and animal - Management
Should I give antibiotic prophylaxis to someone with an animal bite?
- Prescribe oral antibiotics for:
- All cat bites, animal bites to the hand, foot, and face; puncture wounds; wounds requiring surgical debridement; wounds involving joints, tendons, ligaments, or suspected fractures.
- Wounds that have undergone primary closure.
- People who are at risk of serious wound infection (e.g. those who are diabetic, cirrhotic, asplenic, or immunosuppressed).
- People with a prosthetic valve or a prosthetic joint.
- Antibiotics are not generally needed if the wound is more than 2 days old and there is no sign of local or systemic infection.
In depth
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