More than 500 people in Bradford have been so badly attacked by dogs in the last seven years they have needed hospital treatment.

But hospital chiefs in the city have revealed that the numbers could be even higher than the official Department of Health statistics.

The victim of one of the most brutal attacks, which happened in 1991, has renewed her call for more to be done to curb dangerous dogs.

Rukhsana Khan, who was savaged by a pit bull terrier near her home in Manningham when she was six years old in 1991, said little progress had been made in the intervening years.

She said: “I’m not really seeing any progress since 1991 – I haven’t seen anything changing.

“The Dangerous Dogs Act came out in 1991 and the amount of dog attacks that have happened recently shows it can’t have made much difference.

“I feel really upset when I see something on the news about it, it makes me angry.

“All the attacks that have been happening, innocent children dying – something needs to be done.

“There are friendly dogs out there but I’m still scared of vicious dogs.

“I used to have to run a mile from any dogs but I’m getting better.

“If the Act was strong enough this many patients would not have been taken to A&E.”

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We usually expect two or three bites in a weekend and a couple in the week.

“Doctors in A&E see high numbers of patients who have suffered bites but thankfully extreme maulings are very rare.”

The new official figures show that 85 casualties, including 19 under-tens and 18 ten to 18-year-olds were admitted with bite wounds to A&E at Bradford Royal Infirmary in 2007/8.

The previous year 91 patients were treated, compared with 90 in the previous 12 months.

Doctors dealt with 58 cases in 2004/05 and 42 in 2003/04. A further 41 attacks were seen in 2002/3 and 42 the previous year. The first year’s figures available in 2001/02 saw 53 attacks, including 17 on children under ten.

Over a seven-year period there have been 502 attacks, including 144 on under-tens, which resulted in patients needing treatment.

The Bradford hospitals spokesman said: “Most people coming in with dog bites have infected wounds after they have been bitten, usually on their limbs.

“Infections are potentially serious so we act quickly and treat them with antibiotics to help them get better.”

In England there were nearly 4,000 cases of people needing hospital treatment for dog bites, of which more than 700 were aged under ten in 2007/8 – up 45 per cent from 2,643 in 2002/03.

The Dangerous Dogs Act was brought in after the attack on Rukhsana Khan in May 1991.

The Act has since been widely criticised and many have called for it to be updated.

MPs are now trying to extend the 1991 Act so that owners are responsible for attacks that happen in homes and gardens. Currently, an owner can only be prosecuted if the attack happens in a public place.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said comprehensive legislation was in place to deal with people who failed to control their dogs.

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 four types of dog are banned: the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino and fila Brasileiro.

A Defra spokesman said a review of the dangerous dogs legislation was undertaken in 2007, during which police were consulted.

He said: “From this review, we believe that while the existing law on dangerous dogs is robust enough to deal with dangerous dogs and irresponsible dog owners it is important that the law is more rigorously enforced.”

Campaigners have pressed for dog licences to be brought back to help identify dogs involved in attacks. Compulsory registration of dogs was abolished in 1987.