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Are Ancient Remedies the New Answer to Fighting Infections?

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Antibacterial Drug Discovery to Combat MDR

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Abstract

Although modern medicine has made great strides over the past decades, there still exists a struggle in the fight against microbial infections. As microbes continue to develop antimicrobial resistance, it is imperative that new treatment options be developed to overcome this hurdle. Bacteria can develop resistance to current antimicrobial agents through several methods, some requiring cell-to-cell contact through conjugation and other mechanisms that require no contact at all. As current treatments become less toxic to microbes, the need for new treatments is intensified. Throughout the history of human existence, plant and animal products have been used for various infectious diseases. As these products have been further analyzed, the phytochemicals, or active molecules involved, have begun to be uncovered. Discovering the mechanisms of action of the active molecules in these ancient remedies may lead to the development of new drugs to help fight infection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Whitni K. Redman & Kendra P. Rumbaugh

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  2. Kendra P. Rumbaugh
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Correspondence to Kendra P. Rumbaugh .

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  1. Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Iqbal Ahmad

  2. Institute of Ophthalmology, JN Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Shamim Ahmad

  3. School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Kendra P. Rumbaugh

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Redman, W.K., Rumbaugh, K.P. (2019). Are Ancient Remedies the New Answer to Fighting Infections?. In: Ahmad, I., Ahmad, S., Rumbaugh, K. (eds) Antibacterial Drug Discovery to Combat MDR. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9871-1_17

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