Background: Bites caused by pets constitute 5% of the traumatic injuries registered in the emergency services.
Aim: To know the main infectious agents present in dog and cat bites, both individually and jointly, in humans, as well as the predisposing factors that favor infection and its spread.
Methods: A bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed with the following search strategy: (("Bites, Human" [Mesh]) OR "Bites and Stings" [Mesh]) AND "Infection" [Mesh]. Twenty-four papers were included in the qualitative synthesis written in English or Spanish, clinical or descriptive cases and published between 2000 and 2019.
Results: Most frequently isolated species were Capnocytophaga canimorsus in dogs and Pasteurella multocida in cats. The existence of comorbidities in the individual, the bite on the hand, or the presence of signs of alteration of the general state of the bitten individual were considered as risk factors for the development of infection after the bite.
Conclusions: All patients with animal bites should receive medical assistance, and the administration of an antibiotic prophylaxis regimen should be considered to reduce the risk of septic shock. Besides, it is important to advise the microbiology laboratory of the nature of the clinical samples obtained in order to reach the best etiological diagnosis.