When Martin MacPhee talks about his research, he shows a plate from the British Museum in London that depicts a scene from the Trojan War. Unrolling a cloth bandage, Achilles is trying to stop a comrade's bleeding. The care of life-threatening blood loss has not improved much over the centuries, notes MacPhee, an investigator at the American Red Cross' Holland Laboratory in Rockville, Md. Physicians faced with hemorrhaging today still try to stop it by covering the wound with gauze or bandages, applying pressure, and hoping the body's natural ability to form clots will stem the flow of blood. That's often a vain hope. Each year in the United States, around 50,000 people bleed to death due to gunshot wounds, accidents, or other causes. The problem becomes even more acute where it's difficult to get a wounded person to a hospital. "About half of all soldiers who die bleed to death, the majority of that occurring on the battlefield," says MacPhee.
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