Dog bite hospitalizations on rise in U.K.

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LONDON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The number of dog bite victims hospitalized in Britain has risen by about 30 percent in four years, the National Health Service said.

NHS officials said 6,450 people were admitted to hospitals for dog bites and attacks for the 12 months ending in April, an increase from 4,611 four years earlier, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Children under the age of 10 are more likely than other age groups to receive severe bites in a dog attack, the publication said Thursday. About 1-in-6 hospital admissions involved a child under 10.

The data released by the Health and Social Care Information Center only accounted for serious enough injuries that required hospitalization and possibly surgery, the NHS said.

Richard Milner, president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons, said dogs bred for hunting inflicted the worst injuries, sometimes clamping on their victims and shaking them.

"The really terrible injuries that you get from dogs such bull terriers are still pretty rare; most of those are when the dog gets hold of an area of the body, usually an arm but it can be the face if it is close, and biting," Milner said. "The really bad wounds that you occasionally see are caused by the dog being very aggressive and shaking and biting again."