Team Edward: Infections from Human Bites

Three days and counting...

Okay, okay... I'm way too old to be spending so much time obsessively blogging about the Twilight series. But a comment from my last blog about Team Jacob, werewolfism, and rabies got me thinking more about the risks of infections from vampire bites.

Technically, I'm talking more specifically about human bites, which are the third most common bite wounds, after those from dogs and cats. Human bite wounds are not limited to those that occur between kids in the playground, but also include wounds to the hand during fist fights (i.e., fist to mouth).

Infections that result from human bite wounds can include viruses, such as hepatitis B and C, and bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, or fungi, such as Candida. Infections from human bite wounds encompass a wide spectrum of disease, ranging from very minor wounds that require no treatment to reports of flesh-eating bacteria (necrotizing fasciitis). These are reasons why meticulous cleaning of human bite wounds is extremely important, and follow-up with your doctor is highly recommended, even if you don't think the wound looks that bad.

With all this in mind, teenage girls on Team Edward who have sought to be bitten by the vampire hunk (see news story) should think again!

Leading Lady Bella's options are starting to look pretty grim: flesh-eating bacteria from Edward the vampire or rabies from Jacob the werewolf?

By the way, I'm for Team Edward.