• Dog bites send nearly 368,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (1,008 per day).  According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • In 2006, more than 31,000 people underwent reconstructive surgery as a result of being bitten by dogs. (Centers for Disease Control, Dog Bite Prevention, accessed May 20, 2013.)
  • 16,476 dog bites to persons aged 16 years or greater were work related in 2001. (Ibid., Nonfatal Dog Bite–Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments — United States, 2001, MMWR 2003;52:608.
  • California has the highest number of dog bite claims made to State Farm, one of the nation’s largest insurers of homes. (Read the article.)
  • There was an 86% increase in hospitalizations because of dog bites from 1993 to 2008. The number went from 5,100 hospitalizations in 1993, to 9,500 in 2008. The average cost of treatment was $18,200 per patient. The patients generally were kids under 5 years old and seniors over 65. (US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Hospital Admissions for Dog Bites Increase 86 Percent Over a 16-Year Period, Dec. 1, 2010.)
  • Judging only by hospital admissions, 43 percent of people hospitalized for dog bites required treatment for skin and underlying tissue infection; 22 percent had wounds of the legs or arms; 10.5 percent had wounds of the head, neck and torso; and the remaining patients had problems ranging from bone fracture to blood poisoning. (US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.)