DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My neighbor’s dog bit another neighbor’s child. I witnessed it. It wasn’t a deep bite, but the child’s mother made a great fuss about it. We would like some advice about the proper treatment of an animal bite. What should be the initial treatment for one? When are rabies shots necessary? – E.V.

ANSWER: Dogs account for close to 80 percent of animal bites, and cats make up most of the rest. As many as one-quarter of dog bites become infected within 24 hours. Cats have sharper teeth that cause deeper puncture wounds, and about half of those bites are infected within 12 hours.

Immediate treatment of a bite, therefore, is directed at preventing infection. The first step should be washing the wound with soap and water and then irrigating it with copious amounts of water.

The next step depends on the severity of the bite, its location and the circumstances under which it occurred.

Bites of the head, face, neck and hands are at high risk of infection, and their treatment, except for the most superficial bites, should be handled by a doctor. The doctor can answer the antibiotic question, something that always comes up with a bite wound.

A bite that occurs almost accidentally during friendly play doesn’t pose the risk that an unprovoked bite does. Unprovoked bites raise the rabies issue.

If the biting animal has not been vaccinated for rabies and can be observed for 10 days, then any consideration of rabies treatment can be deferred until then. If the animal has rabies, signs of it will develop in 10 days. If the animal was acting peculiarly or aggressively or if the animal escaped, the need for rabies shots is greater, and this is a matter best left to a doctor’s decision. Rabies shots are not the dreaded, prolonged, painful affairs they once were. Now only a total of five relatively painless shots complete the entire series.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: In 1951, when I was 10, I came down with polio. It affected my right leg. I have not been hampered by it since and have led a very active life. I played most sports and currently play golf. I have a barely noticeable limp. However, recently I have noticed that my leg has gotten weaker, and I am having trouble finishing 18 holes of golf. Someone suggested I might have postpolio syndrome. What is that? – F.M.

ANSWER: Thirty, 40 or 50 years after a polio attack, some polio patients begin to experience new weakness in the limbs that were affected by polio. The poliovirus weakens muscles by attacking nerves that stimulate those muscles.

In some polio patients, as time passes, nerves and muscles adjacent to the ones previously attacked by the poliovirus begin to weaken. That’s the basis for the new onset of symptoms and is postpolio syndrome.

For most, weakness does not advance rapidly, and a balance between exercise and rest can minimize its progress. Physical and occupational therapists come to the rescue of postpolio patients by providing them with the right amount and kinds of exercise and by supplying them with devices that can take stress off involved muscles.

You need to have this diagnosis confirmed by a neurologist. There are too many other conditions that can cause similar symptoms, and those conditions call for a completely different plan of attack.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Is pork bad for cholesterol? I was raised on a farm, and we ate lots of pork. My wife is a city girl, and she claims it’s bad for cholesterol. Is it? – G.M.

ANSWER: Pork has no more saturated fat than beef or skinless chicken thighs. Saturated fat is the stuff that causes blood cholesterol to rise.

I don’t know where this pork myth arose or why it did. You can eat it as you would any other meat.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What causes bags under the eyes, and what can be done for them? – K.J.

ANSWER: Bags under the eyes are blobs of fat that have broken through the restraining tissues that normally hold them in place. It’s a consequence of aging.

The only solution to the problem is surgical removal of the fat.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.