Today, striking Kenyan doctors were given a two-week ultimatum by the court to agree on a deal with the government, or else their union leaders will be imprisoned for one month.

A 36-year-old woman who had suffered severe burns has been given fish skin to reduce her injuries in pioneering new treatment.

Maria Ines Candido da Silva worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Russas, north east Brazil. An explosion from a gas canister at the restaurant she was working at caused severe burns to her arms, neck and some of her face.

Doctors offered her an alternative treatment - to dress her wounds with the skin of a common freshwater fish.

It's believed to be the first time in medical history that scientists have used the skin of a fish as a plaster to treat wounds.

"I was in absolute agony and desperate for anything to ease my suffering. I loved the treatment and would recommend it to anyone who has suffered like me," da Silva told The Sun.

A team of doctors at the Dr José Frota Institute Burns Unit in Fortaleza, north east Brazil, developed the pioneering treatment.

And the first trials on some 50 patients were completed this month.

They used the skin from Tilapia fish, a disease-resistant species found in Brazilian rivers.

Before the fish strips are used, researchers put the skin through a rigorous process that removes scales, muscle tissue, toxins and any possibility of transmitted diseases. It also gets rid of the fishy smell.

The fish skin reduces the risk of infection - and it's cheaper to work with, experts say

According to Dr Edmar Maciel, one of the plastic surgeons who developed the treatment, Tilapia skin contains 'optimum levels of collagen type one' and high degrees of humidity, so it takes a long time to dry out.

These are important characteristics known for healing burns and for providing patients with essential proteins.

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