6. Recent advances in research of antimicrobial effects of essential oils and plant derived compounds on bacteria

Antibiotic resistance is a great burden from medicinal and economic point of view, which stems from the overprescription and misuse of anti-infective drugs. It is further aggravated by the horizontal spread of resistance genes between bacterial species and genera. The increasing rate of antibiotic resistance of bacteria urges new attempts to overcome the problem. Antimicrobial agents with new mechanisms resistance modifiers of synthetic or natural origin would serve an alternative way of antimicrobial chemotherapy targeting the inhibition of bacterial growth and the spread of antibiotic resistance. This review reports the biological properties of essential oils and other plant derived compounds with special regard to their antiinfective features and resistance modifier activity, including antibacterial (gram-positive, gram-negative bacteria and Mycobacteria), antiplasmid activities both in vitro and in vivo.