Johns Hopkins ABX Guide
Bite Wounds
PATHOGENS
- Commonly seen pathogens:
- Pasteurella spp.
- P. multocida (cats and dogs)
- P. septica (cats)
- Capnocytophaga canimorsus (dogs): infrequent but can be severe with asplenia or cirrhosis.
- Eikenella corrodens (humans)
- Streptococcus spp (all bites, especially S. anginosus)
- Staphylococcus aureus (all bites, including 30-50% of dog and cat bites)
- Staphylococcus intermedius (dogs)
- Anaerobes (50 - 70% of all bites, especially Prevotellaspp., but rarely detected)
- Pasteurella spp.
- Viruses: case reports following human bite wounds
- Monkey bites: see Herpes B virus module.
- Bear bites: strep, staph, Enterococcus and gram negatives (E. coli,Proteus, Citrobacter, Serratia)
- Rat bites: Streptobacillus moniliformis, Spirillum minus
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Last updated: January 23, 2023
Citation
Fabre, Valeria. "Bite Wounds." Johns Hopkins ABX Guide, The Johns Hopkins University, 2023. Pediatrics Central, peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540058/3.2/Bite_Wounds.
Fabre V. Bite Wounds. Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2023. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540058/3.2/Bite_Wounds. Accessed November 4, 2025.
Fabre, V. (2023). Bite Wounds. In Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University. https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540058/3.2/Bite_Wounds
Fabre V. Bite Wounds [Internet]. In: Johns Hopkins ABX Guide. The Johns Hopkins University; 2023. [cited 2025 November 04]. Available from: https://peds.unboundmedicine.com/pedscentral/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX_Guide/540058/3.2/Bite_Wounds.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
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