Abite is a wound received from theteeth of ananimal. Animals may bite things inself-defence. Animals also bite things to cut them into smaller pieces before theyeat them.
Bites can cause manymedical problems, such as:
Bite wounds should be washed, ideally withpovidone-iodine soap and water. The injury should then be loosely wrapped with abandage. Open bite wounds are notsutured because of the risk of infection.
Animal bites caused bycarnivores (other thanrodents) may infect the victim withrabies if the animal that bit them carries it. If possible, the animal is caught and the head is looked at for signs of rabies. Signs of rabies include foaming at the mouth, self-mutilation, growling, jerky behaviour, and red eyes. If the animal lives for ten days and does not develop rabies, then the animal probably is not infected. In cases where the animal cannot be found,prophylactic rabies treatment is carried out in most places.
Many of the world's snakes are not considered dangerous to humans, but even a bite from a "safe" snake may injure the victim if the wound is not treated properly, and large snakes such asconstrictors are capable of causing a lot of damage with their bites.
Theblack widow spider and somescorpions are considered dangerous to humans, mostly to small children and elderly adults. Only theSydney funnel-web spider ofAustralia is frequently dangerous to adults, and it lives only within 100 miles ofSydney. Antivenins are available in theUnited States for black widow spiders and the dangerous scorpions native to the region.
