Medical textiles are one of the rapidly growing areas in the technical textile market. In the
field of textiles, either natural or manmade fibres, yarns and fabrics are normally used for
implantable, non-implantable, extracorporeal devices and protective textiles to enhance
comfort for the users. The medical products are prepared by weaving, knitting and
non-woven methods. Health and hygienic products are mostly disposable and
non-disposable products and such products are used nowadays for better absorbability,
comfort, feel, flexibility and biodegradability (Walker, 1999).
A critical problem regarding healthcare and hygiene products is antibacterial finishes against
synthetic finishes or coatings for infection control. To provide a possible solution to avoid this
critical problem seaweeds have been used. The dye extracted from seaweeds was applied on
cotton fabric to obtain antimicrobial and other medical properties (Fisher and Gibor, 1987).
Seaweeds consist of three different groups based on thallus colours such as red, green
and brown in nature. Seaweeds are frequently used as a herbal medicine to suppress
inflammation and are also used for the treatment of various diseases such as allergy, cancer,
ulcers, arthritis and hypotension (Faulkner, 2002).
A bioactive compounds present in the brown, red and green seaweeds was polyphenols and
phlorotannin contents were assessed for their antihyaluronidase activity as anti-allergic agents
(Rajasekar Thirunavukkarasu and Priyadharshini Pandiyan, 2013; Patel Margi and Desai
Pratibha, 2014). Brown seaweeds contains major bioactive substances such as polyphenols,