An eight-year-old boy suffered minor injuries after being bitten by a shark while swimming in Surf City, North Carolina.

The incident is the fourth shark bite off a North Carolina beach in the past two weeks.

Town manager Larry Bergman said the town does not plan to warn visitors about the shark bite or tell swimmers to get out of the water, but it has increased police beach patrols.

He said some beachgoers have approached police officers after hearing about the bite on social media.

"News travels really fast," he said.

Mr Bergman said the boy had superficial wounds on his lower leg and ankle, and was treated by emergency personnel at the scene. Afterward, his parents took him to an emergency room to have the wounds cleaned.

"Police and EMS felt like it wasn't a serious bite," Mr Bergman said.

The child had been swimming about five blocks from a fishing pier. Town policy prohibits people from swimming or surfing within 300ft of a fishing pier, Mr Bergman said.

On June 11, a 13-year-old girl suffered small cuts on her foot from a shark bite at Ocean Isle Beach. Three days later, two separate shark attacks occurred within 90 minutes at Oak Island, North Carolina. Both victims, aged 12 and 16, had an arm amputated after the attacks. One victim had been swimming about 100 yards from a fishing pier when she was attacked.