Man-made filaments and method of making wound dressings containing them

A process for making a non-woven alginate fabric useful as a wound dressing comprising forming a tow of continuous calcium alginate filaments by extruding an alginate solution which has been treated with an oxidising agent into an aqueous solution of a calcium salt, stretching the tow of continuous calcium alginate filaments while still wet with calcium salt solution in an atmosphere of steam, spreading in a flow of water the tow of stretched continuous calcium alginate filaments which have been water washed but not dried, overfeeding the spread filaments onto a water pervious support so that the filaments cross over each other, and drying the filaments by suction while they are on the water-pervious support to such extent that the filaments become self-bonded to each other at their points of contact where they cross over each other in the absence of an adhesive or heat.