Researchers in California have developed a type of water which can speed up the healing of wounds by killing harmful bugs. The "super-oxidised" water contains reactive molecules which selectively kill free-floating viruses, fungi and bacteria while encouraging body cells to repair faster.

In one study, patients treated with the water plus an antibiotic healed, on average, in 43 days, according to New Scientist magazine. By comparison, those receiving standard treatment took 55 days to heal. The product, called Microcyn, is now undergoing patient trials in the UK and other EU countries, as well as in the US.

Tracey Kelly, care adviser at Diabetes UK, said: "The healing of wounds is a major problem for people with diabetes who do not have good blood glucose control or have circulatory problems. With 15% of foot ulcers resulting in lower limb amputation, Diabetes UK would welcome any safe, effective treatment."

Cheryl Bongiovanni, director of wound care at Lake District hospital in Lakeview, Oregon, has used Microcyn on some 1,000 diabetic patients with leg and foot wounds in the past 18 months. "When you spray it on, you see the treated tissue 'pink up' and go beefy, because the oxygen supply has resumed," she told New Scientist.

Microcyn contains electrically charged molecules which rapidly pierce the cell walls of free-living microbes and kill them. Human cells are spared because they are tightly bound together.