A new material has been developed that changes colour if an infection arises, which would help make one of the most important tasks of any hospital, healthcare or even nursery nurse job easier by spotting infections below dressings.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT in Munich have developed a material that would reduce the need for regular - and often painful - dressing changes to monitor if a wound is being infected because healthcare professionals would be able to see from the dressing.

Dr Sabine Trupp, a scientist from the EMFT, explained that the dressing works because they have developed a dye which responds to certain changes in the pH values of soft tissue. ScienceDaily quoted Dr Trupp as explaining that healthy skin and healed wounds show a pH value of under 5. She said that when the pH value raises to between 6.5 and 8.5 "an infection is frequently present and the indicator strip turns purple".

The scientists explain that this groundbreaking development would allow people to check on wounds without removing the dressing, which can often delay the healing process.

The material has gone through a series of tests, which have proved successful and now the team are planning to begin commercial production of the dressing. The scientists revealed that in the future they are considering developing an optical sensor to measure the pH value and indicate the result on a reader unit, which would give precise info about how the wound is healing.