Saskatchewan residents are being urged to use caution around domestic, stray and wild animals as public health officials respond to bites involving everything from dogs and cats to bats and wildlife.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan Health Authority medical health officer Dr. David Torr said bites involving unidentified animals are particularly concerning because the animal cannot be observed or tested for rabies.<\/p>\n
He said bats have produced many of the recent positive rabies test results, while coyotes, skunks, bears, stray cats and domestic animals can also potentially carry the virus.<\/p>\n
Children at greater risk of serious injury<\/p>\n
Torr said some bites occur when children visit homes with unfamiliar dogs and accidentally startle or hurt the animal by bumping into it or stepping on its tail.<\/p>\n
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Children can suffer significant injuries because their faces and upper bodies may be closer to an animal\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n
Torr said some young patients have required reconstructive surgery following serious bites.<\/p>\n
Animal owners are encouraged to keep vaccinations current and secure their pets when visitors, couriers or other unfamiliar people approach the home.<\/p>\n
Dogs should also be kept on a leash in public areas unless they are in a designated off-leash space.<\/p>\n
Members of the public should ask an owner before attempting to pet an unfamiliar dog, even when the animal appears calm or is on a leash.<\/p>\n
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Clean bites and scratches immediately<\/p>\n
Torr said both bites and scratches can introduce bacteria into the body and lead to infection.<\/p>\n
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Even a small scratch should be cleaned, while deeper wounds should be assessed by a health-care professional. People should also ensure their tetanus vaccination is current.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan government advises anyone bitten by an animal to wash the area immediately with soap and warm water and see a doctor or visit an emergency department as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
A physician can consult public health officials to determine whether preventive rabies treatment is required.<\/p>\n
Animal may need to be observed<\/p>\n
Torr said people should not immediately kill a domestic animal following a bite because public health officials may need to observe it for signs of rabies.<\/p>\n
A dog, cat or ferret that remains healthy during the observation period can help officials determine whether the person who was bitten requires rabies vaccination.<\/p>\n
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Torr said the goal of the investigation is to protect the person who was bitten while determining whether the animal presents a rabies risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan residents are being urged to use caution around domestic, stray and wild animals as public health officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":["post-851863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}