Chemical Gel Developed to Detect If Wound is Infected

Researchers from Sheffield ¬University in Britain have developed a new chemical gel that glows to indicate that the wound is infected. The new gel emits a pinkish glow when an infected wound is viewed under ultraviolet light, allowing doctors to quickly identify any infection and go about the best way to treat it. The gel is also useful among doctors in the army with a number of battlefield wounds being prone to infection.

The researchers said that they have also found the gel to remove infectious bacteria from the wound site when it was tested on mice in the laboratory. The gel is yet to undergo a trial but is expected to be ready for human testing within the next two years.

“If you know you've got an infection it's going to change how you treat your soldiers, it's going to change how you're going to treat those patients in the home. We could get to an early-stage clinical trial in two to three years”, one of the researchers, Professor Sheila MacNeil said.

Source-Medindia