It is hoped that the shrimp mix will solve a problem that has beset military commanders since ancient Greece: how to save a wounded soldier from bleeding to death before he is treated by paramedics.

Pentagon-funded scientists in Oregon discovered that the unusual concoction will instantly clot blood. By saturating field dressings with the mix they are confident that their invention will save lives.

Dr Kenton Gregory, a cardiologist from the Providence St Vincent Medical Center, Portland, who led the three-year research programme, said: “Death from bleeding on the battlefield hasn’t changed since the Spanish-American war. The first soldier to die in Afghanistan died from a small bullet wound. He bled to death. Our discovery will vastly reduce the number of deaths from bleeding on battlefields.

“Until now throughout the history of warfare all we have had to encourage clotting was gauze dressings,” he said. “Now you will be able to stop bleeding from an aorta so powerful it would shoot across the room and even plug a hole in the heart. It is like glue. It is really nifty.”

The Pentagon gave $400,000 (£244,000) to HemCon, the company Dr Gregory formed with Bill Wiesmann, former director of the US Army’s Combat Casualty Care unit, to come up with a light blood-clotting dressing that would be resist heat and cold.

“One of the guys, Rui-Qing Qian, remembered something from the 1950s, that the component that makes up shrimp shells, when it comes in contact with red blood cells, causes them to clot,” Dr Gregory said.

Chitosan, a protein found in all crustacean shells, including beetles and lobsters, was found to clot blood and kill bacteria on contact. However, in experiments with pigs, chitosan became unstable and vulnerable to movement, pulling the scab away from the wound, when it was infused into bandages.

Simon McCarthy, an Australian member of the team, added vinegar and other chemicals, which made the dressing congeal around the wound. “It is strong. You could drive a Humvee over it and it would stay put, which is just what you need when carrying a wounded soldier around a battlefield or loading him on to a helicopter,” Dr Gregory said.

The Pentagon has ordered 10,000 shrimp-shell field dressings within two weeks, for use in the Gulf. “We hope they will arrive just in time to save lives,” Dr Gregory said.

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