THE CHALLENGES OF OVERCOMING ANTIBIOTIC USE IN FOOD ANIMALS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: PLANT EXTRACTS AS POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ANTIMICROBIAL AND RESISTANCE MODIFYING AGENTS (original) (raw)

Abstract Antibiotic use plays a major role in the emerging public health crisis of antibiotic resistance. Although the majority of antibiotic use occurs in agricultural settings, relatively little attention has been paid to how antibiotic use in farm animals contributes to the overall problem of antibiotic resistance. The problem of antibiotic resistance, which has limited the use of cheap and old antibiotics, has necessitated the need for a continued search for new antimicrobial compounds. Synthetic antibiotics bring about the inhibition of pathogens by either destroying their cell membrane or its permeability or by inhibiting metabolic processes of the pathogens and hence are extremely effective but the flip side of this is that synthetic chemicals are harmful for human as well as soil health. Hence there is a need to search for an environmentally safe and economically viable strategy for the control of diseases and to reduce the dependence on the synthetic agrochemicals. Use of plants as a source of medicine is as old as humanity that’s why focus of the world is shifting towards natural products and analogues. Use of medicinal plants may thus offer a new source of antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral agents with significant activity against microorganisms. Keywords: Antibiotic, Food Animals, Resistance, Plant Extracts, Antimicrobial Agent, Modifying Agents