[Dog bites in the sledge-dog districts of Greenland]. / Hundebidslaesioner i slaedehundedistrikterne i Grønland.

ABSTRACT

Serious attacks on humans by dogs occur every year in Greenland. As prophylactic measures, cutting of dogs canine teeth and chaining of sledge dogs have been compulsory for many years. The significance of cutting of canine teeth and municipal regulations concerning keeping the sledge dogs in Greenland was evaluated in a retrospective study of the death certificates and the nosocomial reports. A total of twenty-two dog bite-related fatalities from 1967 through 1989 and 23 hospitalized patients following dog attacks from 1986 through 1988 in a population of 15,000 inhabitants and 29,000 dogs was studied. In only two of the killed and four of the hospitalized persons, reports of intact canine teeth as demonstrated by the typical lesions were available. However, the severe cut-out wounds in 14 survivors and twenty fatalities with great loss of tissue indicated intact canine teeth of the dogs. Unchained dogs were most frequently involved, but at least four fatalities and one severely injured person were caused by chained dogs. 87% (39/45) of the victims were under ten years of age, so future intervention should primarily involve this group despite a declining mortality rate since the mid-seventies. Small children should be escorted by adults out-of-doors and first aid education of laymen ought to have a higher priority because half of the killed children were still alive, on arrival in hospital. Infants and toddlers should be carried in an amaat, a special rucksack well known in the Eskimo culture and still used in Eskimo Canada, or alternatively rucksacks mounted on a tubular frame of aluminium.