Numbers
likely to rise amid climate change and development pressure
BMJ
The
healthcare costs of injuries caused by encounters with animals in the USA
exceed US$1 billion every year, finds research published in the online
journal Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open.These figures exclude doctors' fees, outpatient clinic charges, lost productivity, or the costs of rehabilitation, and so are likely to be higher still, warn the researchers, who add that the numbers of injuries are likely to increase amid the impact of climate change and development pressures on animal habitats.
Most
of the available evidence on the extent and costs of injuries caused by
encounters with animals in the US has drawn on death certification data or
short-term hospital studies.
The researchers therefore wanted to try and gauge the broader healthcare costs for injuries caused by a wide range of creatures great and small.
They
looked at the outcomes for all patients who were treated for animal related
injuries in emergency care departments across the US between 2010 and 2014,
using data submitted to the National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS).
During
the five year study period, 6, 457, 534 visits were made to emergency care
departments by people who had sustained injuries as a result of an encounter
with creatures great and small. Their average age was 31.
This
equates to a rate of 19 animal-related injuries for every 10,000 visits to
emergency care and 410 such injuries per 100,000 of the population.
Nearly
half (2,648,880; 41%) of the injuries were caused by non-venomous insect and
spider bites, while dog bites accounted for around one in four (1,658,295;
26%). Around one in eight (13%; 812,357) were caused by hornet, wasp, or bee
stings.
Only
a small proportion of patients (3%; 210,516) were admitted to hospital, with
bites from insects and spiders accounting for a quarter of these admissions
(26%).
Only
1162 patients (0.02%) died as a result of their injury, with the highest rate
of deaths among those who had been bitten by a rat (6.5 deaths/100,000 bites),
venomous snake/lizard (6.4/100,000 bites), or a dog (6.1/100,000 bites).
People
over the age of 85 were six times more likely to be admitted to hospital and 27
times more likely to die after their injury.
Female
sex was associated with better chances of survival and lower odds of a hospital
admission.
The total healthcare costs for these animal related injuries over the five years was US$5.96 billion, which works out at US$1.2 billion for each of the five years. But this figure doesn't include doctors' fees, outpatient clinic charges, lost productivity, or the costs of rehabilitation.
Dog
bites, non-venomous insect and spider bites, and bites from venomous snakes and
lizards accounted for 60 per cent of the total costs.
"Animal-related
injuries are an underappreciated and increasing burden to the US healthcare
system," say the researchers.
And
this is likely to become worse amid the impact of climate change and
development pressures on animal habitats, they suggest.
"Injuries
due to mountain lions, bears, alligators and venomous snakes among other wild
animals attract considerable media attention and are associated with dramatic
morbidity and mortality.
But
injuries caused by smaller animals and insects form the majority of incidents,
and they are no less likely to be affected by habitat pressures and climate
change, they add.
"As
available habitat for these animals increasingly overlaps with human
development and recreational activities, it is expected encounters with these
animals may increase and could result in increased animal-related
injuries," they write.