Antimicrobials of plant origin against TB and other infections and Economics of plant drugs –Introspection

An overview on work published on antimicrobial activity of plants indicated that very limited work is reported on antimicrobial activities against multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogenic bacteria, especially the tuberculosis (TB) bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. But considerable work has been done with the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Active principles from the tea tree oil plant, as well as the berberine found in many plants were reported to be effective against MRSA. For the control of many MDR pathogenic bacteria including M. tuberculosis, a systematic screening of plants would be the step towards drug-development from plants that would be economically viable too in the medicinal plant trade. In developing and developed countries phytodrugs with several commercial formulations are amply available, those are economical enough. A discussion on the economics of trade on medicinal plants is done that clarifies that raw products for healthcare are almost universally popular. It is discussed that crude plant extracts as antimicrobials are preferable, since resistance in pathogens would not be easy, for an array of compounds; and drug development for MDR-TB is need of the day.