Cecil has covered this topic to some degree. I didn’t get the statistic I was looking for though. I remember reading somewhere that human bites cause more deaths than from any other animal (including snakes,dogs,and sharks). I don’t know where the information came from, but this seems like an interesting bit of trivia.
Based on my training in EMS and nursing school, I can tell you that human bites are extremely dirty. They almost always get infected. Some of the normal flora in your mouth can do some unpleasant things if they get through your skin. Sorry, I don’t have death statistics.
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he’s pissed.
Ive got some human bites [don’t ask me how] & you get a tetnus shot & thats it basically.
Zombie bites would be bad. But seriously what type of germs would a normal reasonable healthy and clean human mouth have that would be bad if it got under the skin.
Zombies, and humans have similar bacteria… it makes sense that if the bacteria is surviving in the biters gums, its resistant to human immune system…
From http://www.uptodate.com/contents/soft-tissue-infections-due-to-human-bites
MICROBIOLOGY
Human bite wound pathogens consist of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, including streptococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Eikenella, Fusobacterium, Peptostreptococcus, Prevotella, and Porphyromonas spp [1-3]. In a study of 50 patients with infected human bites, the median number of isolates per wound culture was four [3]. Both aerobes and anaerobes were isolated from 54 percent of wounds, aerobes alone were isolated from 44 percent and anaerobes alone were isolated from 2 percent.
Why is it a problem when it gets into the skin. Why is it not an issue in the gums?
For one thing, saliva contains antibacterial compounds which constantly bathe your oral cavity. Your skin and subcutaneous tissues are more vulnerable to bacterial assault from organisms not normally found there.
Eikenella is a nasty mother.
Shut your mouth!
It would be a much bigger problem if the person biting is infected with certain things, such as rabies, wouldn’t it? I mean, rabies is the one I instantly thougth of, but there’s many other diseases that can be transmitted through bodily fluids.
Yet I bite my tongue, and nothing very bad happens.
Working in a prison, you would I venture have seen your fair share of bites? How often do they become infected.
I’m trying to salvage a guy’s arm right now; he keeps biting himself.
Human bite wounds are nasty. I see a lot of infections from them. Sorry, I haven’t kept track of the objective data. But it’s standard protocol to prophylax all patients with significant human bite wounds with antibioticsl.
Can’t believe I’m posting in the same thread with handy again.
Whenever I get a small scratch from a rose thorn that draws blood I usually lick the wound which seems to stop the bleeding. My wife goes off like a two bob watch, saying, “Yuk, that’s disgusting”. But is it? Am I likely to catch infections, or does my saliva help to sterilize it?
According to a Doctor friend, the closer 2 species are, the more likely the organisms living in the biter’s mouth can survive and spread in the bitee’s body.
So humans bit by herbivores (horses, mules, cows) are at little risk of infection.
Humans bit by omnivores/carnivores like dogs or cats are at higher risk. (Also, cats are higher because their small, sharp teeth go deeper in the human skin, and the wounds are more likely to close up at the top first, thus leaving a pocket of infection inside.)
Human bites from chimps or monkeys are very likely to cause infections.
And human bites from other humans – he said almost 100% chance of causing an infection. In fact, so likely that doctors start antibiotic treatment right away, without waiting to see if an infection will develop.
So the OP’s question of how deadly they are depends on how well the bitee can fight off an infection.
General health, body condition, etc. all enter into that. And then there is the level of help given to the body. How soon they can see a doctor and get started on antibiotics is pretty important. Human bites re certainly less deadly in the last century, since the discovery of antibiotics!
Yes, your saliva does help prevent infections (as well as cleaning off the wound area). But note – it’s your saliva for a wound on your body. Somebody else’s saliva would probably have the opposite effect, and would encourage an infection.