Use of bioactive plant products in combination with standard antibiotics: Implications in antimicrobial chemotherapy

Nowadays, multiple antibiotic resistance by disease-causing microorganisms are a major public health problem. Antimicrobial compounds from plants have been found to be synergistic enhancers in that though they may not possess any antimicrobial properties alone, but when used concurrently with standard drugs they enhance the activity of the drug. The synergistic effect of the association of antibiotic and plant extracts against resistant pathogens leads to new choices for the treatment of infectious diseases. Also synergy between bioactive plant product and antibiotics will confront problems of toxicity and overdose since lesser concentrations of two agents in combination are required, due to these reasons, there is need therefore, for continuous exploration of multidrug resistance modulating principles from plants sources.