Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite–related injury. During 1979–1998, dog attacks killed more than 300 Americans.

Nearly 800,000 people sought medical care for dog bites in 1994; half of them were children under 18.

Future Steps

Injuries from dog bites affect everyone. To develop effective strategies to reduce the painful and costly burden of dog bites, CDC must learn more about situations that put individuals at risk, identify dog–related factors associated with higher rates of attacks, and determine the elements of successful interventions. To that end, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its partners must:

Establish coordinated systems for reporting and tracking dog bites, related injuries, and associated medical care costs.

Expand efforts to gather more accurate national data about dog bites.

Conduct additional research to more effectively identify factors that increase or decrease a person's risk of dog bite–related injury. CDC must also develop, implement, and evaluate prevention programs. Potential prevention strategies include programs promoting responsible dog ownership; training programs to increase desired canine behavior; programs to teach children how to act around dogs; enhanced animal control programs; and education for veterinarians and the general public.

In addition, we must look at the effectiveness of legislation to regulate dangerous or vicious dogs. Such legislation may entail registering those dogs with local health or animal control authorities, restricting how owners can confine dangerous dogs, requiring both owners and dogs to undergo training and further assessment, requiring dogs to be spayed or neutered, and mandating permanent identification of dangerous dogs.

Children at Greatest Risk

Children are at greater risk of injury and death from dog bites. Many children do not know how to behave around a dog. Children's small size and inability to fend off an attack may put them at additional risk. In 1994, approximately 2.5% of U.S. children under 14 years old were bitten compared with 1.6% of adults over 18 years old. In 1997–1998, 27 people died from dog bites; 19 of them were children under 15.

Children, especially boys ages 5 to 9, have the highest incidence rate for emergency department visits resulting from dog bites.