The Bacteriosafe consortium are working together with teams across Europe and Australia to create an advanced wound dressing.

The dressing will work by releasing antibiotics from nanocapsules triggered by the presence of disease-causing pathogenic bacteria, which will target treatment before the infection takes hold.

The dressing will also change colour when the antibiotic is released, alerting healthcare professionals that there is infection in the wound.

This is an important step in treating burns patients, particularly children, where infections can lead to toxic shock syndrome, a potentially fatal condition.