Retrospective analysis of dog bites in Southern Ital y

Dog bite is one of the major public health problems involving people worldwide. Although, several studies have investigated this phenomenon in different countries, little information about the incidence of dog bite episodes in Italy is available. We analysed data about dog biting events between 2010 and 2019 provided by the CRIUT; the Regional Reference Centre for Veterinary Urban Hygiene in the largest city of Southern Italy, namely. Naples. We observed severe and profound inconsistencies in the data collection that reveal structural and significant weaknesses of the current data collection system. Given the multifactorial nature of dog bite, we highlight the need to improve the gathering of all the information related to the factors affecting the occurrence of biting episodes for an accurate assessment of the biting phenomenon.