Cat Bites on Hand Lead to Serious Infections and Hospitalization

A bite or scratch from your pet cat is no fun, according to a new study. The research claims that bites from these feline species are potentially dangerous with about 1 in 3 patients ending up in hospital.

A three year study by researchers at Mayo Clinic, claim that when a domestic cat punctures the skin using its sharp canine teeth, the small deep wound acts as perfect breeding ground for bacteria. This bacteria infects the joints and tissues.

The study also discovered that two-third of the people who were hospitalized by cat bites required surgery. The most common bite victims were middle-aged women.

"People tend to be more dismissive of cat bites than dog bites, in part because cat bites often look like a pinprick, and dog bites look much worse," senior author Brian Carlsen, M.D., a Mayo Clinic plastic surgeon and orthopedic hand surgeon, said in a statement."That's a mistake. Cat bites look very benign, but as we know and as the study shows, they are not. They can be very serious."

The infection develops not because of excessive germs in the cat's mouth but due to the bacteria in the fangs of the feline species that are pushed deep into the tissue when it bites.

Dr. Carlsen explains that, dog's teeth are blunt and hence don't penetrate deep into the skin. Dog bites usually leave a larger wound. On the other hand cats plunge their sharp teeth deep inside the skin, sending bacteria in the joint and tendon sheaths. This small bite mark triggers serious problems. The bacteria strain is commonly found in animals and is hard to battle using antibiotics.

The study identified nearly 193 Mayo Clinic patients who suffered from cat bites from 2009-2011, of which two thirds were hospitalized for an average of three days. Of 57 hospitalized patients, 38 required surgeries to flush out infection through a technique called debridement. Close to eight victims required an operation and a few needed reconstructive surgeries.

Among the patients, 69 percent of them were female with a mean age of 49 years. Half of them were first admitted in the emergency room and then shifted to primary care. The mean time between the bite and medical care was about 27 hours.

The risk of hospitalization was high when the person received a cat bite directly over the wrist or any joint when compared to bites over soft tissues.

About 154 patients were treated using oral antibiotics as outpatients. This antibiotic treatment in outpatients failed in 21 victims with a 14 percent failure rate and required further hospitalization.

The researchers caution pet owners that cat bites on the hand need proper medical treatment and should be not neglected. Any inflammation on the skin accompanied by swelling should be given immediate medical attention.

Cat bites can even trigger mood disorders. A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan claimed that people treated for cat bites were five times more susceptible to develop depression. The risk of developing depression is higher in women when compared to men.

The current study was published in the Journal of Hand Surgery.