Now, crab shell bandages to help wounds heal faster

London: What if your bandage could heal wounds faster? A team of scientists has come up with a fast-healing dressing that contains crab shells.

The University of Bolton team, which spent 10 years developing the hi-tech alchite dressing, believes that it could become a product worth 250 million pounds a year, the Mirror reported.

The key ingredient is chitosan, a mineral found in crustacean shells, which kills bacteria and speeds up healing. The dressing is set to be made in China but initially sold in the UK.

Researcher Mohsen Miraftab said that Alchite is a composite fibre, combining alginate, which is drawn from algae, and chitosan, found in crustacean shells, adding that alginate and chitosan both have a history of being used in medicine.

Chitosan is naturally antimicrobial and accelerates wound healing activity, so it does heal and kill bacteria.