Multidrug Resistance in Zoonotic Pathogens: Are Medicinal Plants a Therapeuthic Alternative?

Abstract

Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a complex phenomenon, caused not only by nondiscriminative antibiotic therapy in both human and animal medicine but also by the transfer of resistance genes between different bacteria. Animals besides different environ- ments embody a niche for the development of resistant microbiomes, representing a serious threat to people not only as contacts but also as consumers/tourists. The epidemi- ological cycle of MDR bacteria is closed by changes in either their hosts or in their habitats. To prevent further spreading of MDR, natural solutions are investigated as efficacy, including in this category various compounds isolated from medicinal plants (quinones, flavones, flavonoids, and flavonols, tannins, coumarins, terpenoids and essential oils, alkaloids, lectins and polypeptides, etc.). The results of such studies are valuable for the medicine, but could the medicinal plants cover the gap for humans, animals, and the environment? This chapter aims at trying to answer this question.