Spices and Herbs in Bacterial and Fungal Resistance

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<div&gt;A plethora of pathogenic microorganisms is responsible for several&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;infectious diseases. For many decades, the treatment of microbial infections includes&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;the use of various antimicrobial agents. However, the extensive use of antibiotics has&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;been found to develop multiple drug resistance (MDR) in many pathogens.</div&gt;<div&gt;Furthermore, the rate of MDR is higher in developing countries because of&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;indiscriminate use and self-medication. The emergence of MDR limits the&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;effectiveness and therapeutic options for common infections. As a result, much&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;attention is given to naturally derived products that can be used as potential, with better&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;efficacy, less expensive alternative, and safe antimicrobials for the treatment of&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;common infections.</div&gt;<div&gt;<br&gt;Herbal medicines have always been used as an alternative to treat diseases due to&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;toxicity and associated side effects of allopathic medicines. In recent years, the use of&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;herbs and spices in therapy has been gradually increasing in many developing countries&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;because of their safety, efficacy, and other beneficial effects. Spices and herbs have&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;been used for thousands of years for flavouring and preserving foods. Many of these&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;herbs and spices, such as thyme, cinnamon, clove, oregano, cardamom, nutmeg, mint,</div&gt;<div&gt;and cumin, are known to exert a range of therapeutic activities, including antioxidant,</div&gt;<div&gt;anti-inflammatory, and anticancerogenic. These are also useful for preventing lipid&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;oxidation and free radical scavenging agents in living organisms.</div&gt;<div&gt;<br&gt;Spices and herbs demonstrate antimicrobial activity due to the presence of some of the&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;important phytochemicals or essential oils, which are naturally toxic to microbes. The&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;phytochemical screening disclosed the presence of a number of secondary metabolites&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;such as resins, phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, sterols, reducing sugars, tannins,</div&gt;<div&gt;glycosides, etc. and various essential oils which act on a wide range of microorganisms&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;such as fungi, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, etc. The antimicrobial activity of the spices&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;depends on the composition, the type of the spices, and various other environmental&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;factors. The mechanism of its action by which these phytoconstituents act is generally&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;complex and mostly depends on the presence of chemical constituents. It is also&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;affected by the different cell wall components, such as its composition and the presenceof different proteins on the cell envelope, as these are the major components that&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;interact with the molecules. Some essential oils in plants cause partial disintegration&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;due to the disruption of the lipopolysaccharide in the outer layer. It also inhibits the&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;synthesis of nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and proteins in bacterial and fungal cells.</div&gt;<div&gt;<br&gt;Thus, the use of spices and herbs presents a great potential to be used as an alternative&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;or in addition with the allopathic medicine to decrease the side effects and&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;progressively increase the resistance of pathogens induced by the use of allopathic&lt;/div&gt;<div&gt;drugs.</div&gt;