Dog bite Emergency department presentations in Brisbane metro south: Exploring targeted interventions - webinar

Dog bites are a recognized public health issue due to their impact on human and animal health/welfare. 

For this study dog bite patient hospitalization data geolocated to the street address were collected from clinical records management systems from the four main public hospitals in the Metro South Hospital Health Service region of Queensland for a 5-year period (ie. 01/07/2013 to 30/06/2017). We investigated the epidemiology of three clinical outcomes including probability of paediatric cases (paediatric vs. adult), probability of dog bites to the head (head injury vs. other injury), and probability of re-presentation to the ED following their initial dog bite (yes or no).

This presentation will discuss the risk factors identified as well as present our predictive maps showing significant clustering of paediatric case probability associated with socioeconomic status of the places of residence. We also show that public health interventions to reduce the burden of dog bites should be targeted to the populations most at-risk in the areas identified in this study.

Webinar presenters:

Associate Professor Ricardo J. Soares Magalhães (LVM MSc PhD DiplECVPH)

Dr Soares Magalhaes  is an infectious disease epidemiologist with qualifications in both human and veterinary public health. He leads the UQ’s Spatial Epidemiology Laboratory (www.spatialepilab.com) a One Health medical geography group within the University of Queensland, Australia. His primary research focuses on the application and development of spatial risk assessment methods to provide epidemiological evidence for more rational implementation of strategies for the control of infectious diseases of animals and humans. His lab uses contemporary epidemiological tools, including spatial modelling, and more recently molecular epidemiology to answer key questions regarding the implementation of zoonotic disease control in Australia and developing countries. 

Dr Bradley Brennan (BHlthSc MBBS) 

Dr Brennan  is an emergency physician advanced trainee with the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. He is currently working at the Princess Alexandra Hospital as an Emergency Medicine Registrar. He is interested in bridging the gap between clinical medicine and human public health. His primary research focuses on emergency department presentations secondary to animal injuries, and the epidemiological factors that influence these presentations.

This webinar is only available to members and is free.