After a Rodent Bite: How to Care for Your Child

Rodent bites usually do not cause serious problems, but sometimes can become infected. Make sure you keep your child's wound clean and watch for signs of infection.

Animal bites are very common in the United States, especially among kids. Rats and mice are responsible for most rodent bites. These bites usually occur on the hands and face in children 5 years old or younger. 

Although rodent bites are often associated with concern about rabies, this is actually rare. Animals like bats, raccoons, and foxes are most likely to transmit rabies.

The most common complication of a rodent bite is skin infection. Signs of infection include warmth around the wound, swelling, pain, redness, and pus.

Bites on the hands are the most likely to become infected. Bites there also might injure joints, ligaments, or nerves.

In rare cases, a rodent bite can lead to infections that can affect the whole body, like rat bite fever. Kids with these other infections may have fever, chills, muscle aches, headache, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, belly pain, joint pain, blurred vision, rash, cough, or trouble breathing.

Your child's health care provider may have prescribed antibiotics to prevent or treat an infection of the wound. If needed, the health care provider might have given your child stitches. If your child had not gotten a tetanus shot recently, this vaccination also might have been given.

• If antibiotics were prescribed, make sure your child takes the full course as instructed.

• Wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water as instructed.

• Apply an antibiotic ointment to the injury and cover it with a nonstick bandage.

• If the wound is bleeding, gently apply pressure with a clean dry cloth and keep the bitten area elevated (for instance, raise a hand on some pillows).

• Your child's wound continues to cause pain for more than 24 hours.

• Your child's wound has signs of infection such as warmth, swelling, pain, redness, or pus.

• Your child has a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher.

• Your child was bitten on the hand and now has numbness or cannot move a finger. This could mean a nerve or joint is affected.

• Your child has chills, muscle pain, rash, vomiting, diarrhea, belly pain, headache, joint pain, blurred vision, dizziness, cough, or trouble breathing.

• Bleeding continues after applying pressure for 15 minutes.