Fatal donkey bite in children: a case report
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Fatal donkey bite in children: a case report Amal Mosbahi 1
&
Wael Majdoub 1 & Maroua Naouar 2 & Elyes Turki 1
Accepted: 10 August 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Although animal-inflicted injuries are a worldwide major public health problem, lethal donkey bites have very rarely been reported. We describe the case of a 21-month-old girl that was found dead in a farmyard next to a donkey that belonged to the family. Examination of the body showed bite marks on the right side of the neck and the upper part of the shoulder. Death was attributed to cervical trauma and spine injuries from a donkey attack. Keywords Donkey . Animal attack . Bite . Death . Forensic autopsy
Case report A healthy 21-month-old girl was found dead at a farmyard in front of her home. She was playing near her mother, who had left her alone for about a quarter of an hour. When she came back she found her daughter’s body lying supine under a tree and next to a donkey that belonged to the family. When civil protection arrived, they found that the girl had died so they transported her body to the Department of Forensic Medicine. External examination showed the child to be properly nourished and well built, measuring 73 cm in height. The deceased was normally dressed, but the upper right portion of her T-shirt was torn. The body presented a bluish bruise on the right arm measuring 10x2cm with an oval shape and a superior concavity without any other deep injuries (Fig. 1). The examination of the body revealed a purplish arcshaped bruise in both the right earlobe and tragus. Areas characteristic of donkey bites were present on the right side of the neck and the upper part of the shoulder. There was a purplish bruise in the right lateral cervical region measuring 12 cm in length and 8 cm in width extending from the earlobe to the supraspinatus outlet. Within the bruise
* Amal Mosbahi [email protected] 1
Department of Forensic Medicine, Ibn El Jazzar University Hospital, Kairouan, Tunisia
2
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Fattouma Bourguiba Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia
described above, two dried, reddish colored abrasions were present in the shape of a semi-circle: the upper one was 12 cm in length having a postero-lateral concavity while the lower one measured 2 cm in length. The distance separating these two abrasions was 1 cm (Fig. 2). Moreover, the examination revealed a semi-circular and dried abrasion measuring 12 cm × 5.5 cm and presenting an internal concavity. It stretched from the middle left side of the occiput to the interscapular region. This abrasion was centered by a superficial skin detachment (Fig. 3). The concave margins of some of these previously outlined abrasions faced each other and thus together made a characteristic bite mark impression. In addition, at the deep incision of the posterior cervical region, we noted the presence of a hemorrhagic infiltration of the right trapezius muscle. The autopsy showed bleeding around soft tissues and a hemo
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