Types of injuries

The most frequent type of injuries caused by contact with animals were open wounds (13,419 cases, 57%) followed by fractures, toxic effects and superficial and soft tissue injuries. The body parts most commonly injured were the upper limbs (nearly half of these injuries) and head and neck (Figure 22).

No observable differences were noted by sex, however, by age group:

  • nearly 3 out of 5 open wounds were in people aged 25-64 (7,806 cases,58%)
  • of the 6,019 open wounds to the wrist or hand (45%), about a third were in each age group 25-44 and 45-64 years
  • children presented with the highest proportions of open wounds to the head and neck. The highest proportion of open wounds to the head and neck was among 5–14-year-olds (593 cases, 29%) with 0-4-year-olds being second highest (482 cases, 23%)

Fractures were most frequently upper limb in people aged under 25, and the trunk in people aged 25 and over. For more information, please refer to supplementary data table 9.

Figure 22: Type and body part of injury by age and sex, 2021-22

An interactive heatmap displaying the number and percent of injury hospitalisations by type and body part of injury. Body part injured can be further displayed by age and sex.

Head and neck injuries

In 2021-22 there were 3,385 cases of head and neck injuries, about 14% of injury hospitalisations due to contact with animals. 57% of these cases were females, 16% were aged 0-4 and 23% 5-14 years old.

While 68% of these head and neck injury cases were hospitalised with open wounds, soft tissue or superficial injuries, about 14% (485 cases) suffered intracranial injuries, which can have severe and long-lasting consequences. Nearly three quarters were female and about 1 in 4 intracranial injury cases were aged in each age group of 15-24, 25-44 and 45-64 years.

Ten-year trends indicate increasing head and neck injuries, with children under 5 years of age continuing to be at higher risk of injuries to the head and neck than any other age group (Figure 23).

Figure 23: Heatmap of crude rate per 100,000 persons of head and neck injury hospitalisations due to contact with animals by age, Australia, 2012-22

Heatmap showing the highest crude rates of head and neck injuries are among children aged 0-4 years, with these increasing from 27.2 to 36.7 per 100,000 between 2012-13 and 2021-22.

Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database

Allergies

In 2021-22 there were 1,176 injury hospitalisations due to contact with animal allergens, a crude rate of 4.6 per 100,000 persons (Table 5). Males were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalised as females for this reason (5.9 and 3.2 per 100,000 comparatively). In general, the rate of hospitalisation increased with increasing age, with rates being the most similar by sex for the 15-24 age group. In all other age groups, male crude rates were at least 1.7 times that of females. Bees were the main named animal these allergies were associated with (1,072 cases or 91%, a crude rate of 4.1 cases per 100,000 people) and almost all cases were emergency admissions.

Table 7.1: Number and crude rate (per 100,000 persons) of injury hospitalisations due to contact with animal allergens by sex and age, Australia, 2021–22

Age group 

Cases: Male

Cases: Female

Cases: Persons

Crude Rate: Male

Crude Rate: Female

Crude Rate: Persons

0–4

26

5

31

3.3

0.7

2.1

5–14

72

37

109

4.3

2.3

3.4

15–24

49

50

99

3

3.3

3.2

25–44

211

128

339

5.8

3.5

4.6

45–64

277

129

406

9

4

6.5

65+

122

70

192

6

3

4.4

 Total

757

419

1,176

5.9

3.2

4.5

Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database

Table 7.2: Number and crude rate (per 100,000 persons) of injury hospitalisations due to contact with animal allergens by region, Australia, 2021–22

Remoteness

Cases: Male

Cases: Female

Cases: Persons

Crude Rate: Male

Crude Rate: Female

Crude Rate: Persons

Major city

401

240

641

4.3

2.5

3.4

Inner regional

230

133

363

10.1

5.7

7.9

Outer regional

106

30

136

10

2.9

6.5

Remote

16

14

30

10.2

9.7

10

Very remote

2

1

3

1.9

1.1

1.5

 Total

757

419

1,176

5.9

3.2

4.5

 Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database

For more information, please refer to supplementary data table 10.

Poisoning toxic effects and envenomation

Poisoning is when exposure to a toxic substance (through any route, such as absorption or ingestion) adversely affects health. Envenomation is when the exposure to a poison or toxin is from an animal’s bite or sting.

Of the 2,867 injury hospitalisations due to venomous animals in 2021-22, there were 2,293 cases hospitalised with poisoning or toxic effects (including envenomation), representing about 10% of all injury hospitalisations due to contact with animals. This is down from 3,520 cases of venomous bites and stings reported in 2017-18 (AIHW 2021), and about 3,100 cases per year between 2001 and 2013 (Welton, Williams et al. 2017). Just over 75% of cases with contact with venomous animals experienced a poisonous or toxic effect, making it the most common type of injury from contact with venomous animals. The next commonest type of injury was open wounds (about 20% of cases).

These injuries were not described in terms of body location. 3 in 5 (1,403) cases were male and a third (727 cases) aged 45-64 years, similar to previously published patterns (Australian Venomous Injury Project 2023). About 10% were aged 5-14 or 15-24 years and 3% were under 5 years old (Figure 22).

Table 8: Number of injury hospitalisations with a principal diagnosis of toxic effect of contact with venomous animals, 2021-22

Principal diagnosis (ICD10-AM code)

A: Contact with animals * 
(% of column A total)

B: Other external cause **

Details of Other external cause (B)

Total (A+B)

Venom of other arthropods (T63.4)

1,595 (70%)

28

27 cases due to allergies (Y37.8 or Y37.9)

1,623

Venom of spider (T63.3)

341 (15%)

0

 

341

Snake venom (T63.0)

167 (7%)

1

Immunoglobulin (biological substances causing adverse effects) (Y59.3)

168

Toxic effect of contact with fish or other marine animals (T63.5 or T63.66)

167 (7%)

40

40 cases due to contact with venomous marine animals and plants (X26.8 or X26.9)

207

Toxic effect of contact with other or unspecified venomous animals, other reptiles or scorpions (T63.8, T63.1,T63.2 or T63.9)

22 (1%)

12

11 cases due to contact with unspecified venomous animal or plant (X29)

34

Total 

2,292 (100%)

81

 

2,373

Notes:

* Where the external cause of injury was recorded as contact with animals, and therefore included in the scope of this report as described in the Technical notes.

** Where the external cause of injury was not recorded as contact with animals, and therefore these cases are excluded from the scope of this report as described in the Technical notes.

Source: National Hospital Morbidity Database

Insects, snakes and spiders caused most cases (Figure 16, Table 8), congruent with previously published data (Welton, Williams et al. 2017). Hospitalisations due to the toxic effects of marine animal stings were minimal in 2021-22 (121 cases affected by jellyfish), likely reflecting both the impacts of preventive messaging on this topic and the COVID-19 pandemic (Australian Venomous Injury Project 2023). Where other external causes were recorded, the majority of these cases were excluded from the scope of this report as they may have been caused by plants or animals (51 cases, Table 8). The use of antivenom in envenomation cases is discussed in the section of this report on envenomation and antivenom.

Superficial and soft-tissue injuries

In 2021-22 superficial and soft-tissue injuries contributed about 10% or 2,245 cases. The majority were upper (1,006 cases) or lower limb (731 cases) injuries. There were also 238 superficial or soft tissue injuries of the head and neck recorded. These injuries followed the overall pattern of increasing with age and peaking in adulthood, with a roughly even spread by sex (Figure 20).

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