A plant first used by prehistoric man in 30,000BC can help fight infections, according to scientists.

Studies found fibres from the common flax plant can kill bacteria if treated with special light-sensitive dyes and exposed to red light.

Experts at the University of Brighton believe the approach could, for example, reduce contamination on bed linen and patients' clothes from bacteria including MRSA.

Flax absorbs light-sensitive dyes with more capacity than the most commonly used material, cotton. After stimulation with red light, the dyes produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that kill bacteria.

ROS, which are chemically-reactive molecules containing oxygen, attack bacteria by several mechanisms, which means bacteria is less likely to develop resistance to this treatment, unlike antibiotics.

Dr Iain Allan, senior research fellow at the University of Brighton, said: "Infections resistant to antibiotics are a big problem in patient care and will become an even bigger problem in the future, so we have to look for alternative approaches as soon as possible."

The four-year, £2.1 million European Union-funded flax research ends next month.

Sergey Mikhalovsky, professor of materials chemistry at the University of Brighton's school of pharmarcy and biomolecular sciences, has been working with Rouen and Le Havre universities in France, the French research institution CNRS and LBN, a firm that produces flax.