Chomp! The last thing you remember saying before hearing the crunch of a bite was some angry stupid comment. In olden days, it was uncommon for folks to go out and bite each other unless it was part of a free-for-all fight and the injuries that needed medical attention were way more serious than worrying about a human bite. Punctured lungs, suffocation, compound fractures, broken necks, etc all were higher in priority than a bite.

Unfortunately today there are serious blood borne pathogens which means one should treat human bites as being serious injuries. Aids is perhaps the most feared of the diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, are also concerns if dealing with a bite that penetrates the outer layer of skin (epidermis) and exposes the underlying tissue (dermis). Professional emergency personnel should always be contacted immediately when any injury occurs and need as much information as possible on the nature of the injury. The 911 dispatcher will guide you through the first aid treatment needed till help arrives.

But what if you're camping and there is no emergency personnel immediately available? The first thing to do is to keep the victim calm. I would have them lie down and elevate the area of injury for inspection. When examining the injury, cleaning the area should be the first step. Unless a better cleaning liquid is available, I would use room temperature clean water and pour it over the injured area without touching it. This will do two things, first allow you to see if the skin is broken and second clean off any contaminants to prevent further infection just in case the skin has been broken.

If there is no blood present then I would use an ice pack wrapped in a damp cloth and apply it to the area until medical assistance arrives or means are found to transport the injured person to where they can get proper medical treatment.

What if the skin has been broken? The first indication of this will be blood welling up in the teeth indentations. A compress should be placed over the injured site an if bleeding is excessive (i.e. arterial bleeding where the blood will spurt out with each heart beat), pressure should be applied to reduce the amount of bleeding. If neither you or the victim are able to hold the compress, wrap a bandage around the bitten are and it should be snug and not tight.

Bandages that are tied too tightly restrict flow to the area downstream of the injury and depending on how long it takes for medical professionals to arrive, could make things even worse. What about the biter? While waiting for medical assistance, an effort should be made to get as complete a medical history on any chronic illnesses they may have. Name, address, phone number and any other contact information you can get is a good idea. This is needed not only to help document what happened but to provide a means if at some future time the medical staff needs to talk to the biter.

My experience has been elementary kids are most likely to use biting as a form of self defense. Unless adults are desperate (Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear) this is not a normal form of self defense (unless you're like Denzel Washington playing the role of Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic criminologist who kills an assailant in "The Bone Collector" by biting his jugular vein").

But again any injury should be treated seriously and evaluated regardless of how minor it may seem to be at the time.

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