Human bites and finger infections: a survey at Dodoma Regional Hospital, Tanzania.

We describe 26 patients with finger infections following human bites, who were admitted to Dodoma Regional Hospital in Tanzania between 1983 and 1991. Most patients came to hospital too late for the finger to be saved, and amputation was necessary in nearly all cases. The extreme seriousness of the bite seems to have been overlooked by both the patients and the health workers of the peripheral units of our region.