Essential oils as antimicrobial agents

Abstract

During the last decades, the limit of microbial diseases and infections has been exceeded dramatically. Several types of pathogenic microbes have been reported; however, some are being less infection responsible. Increase in disease infections in human and plants caused by pathogenic bacteria and fungi mainly occurs due to the development of new specific features in microbial majority, making them to adapt in any environmental condition. Resistance of these pathogens to commercial antibiotic drugs has emerged as a great health concern to the consumers. Diseases caused by bacteria and fungi and their resistant nature to antibiotics have played a vital role to increased rate in plant and human infectious diseases. Extensive use of antibiotics in several industries against hazardous bacteria and fungi has resulted in additional antibiotic resistance to these pathogens, which has become a matter of great concern to the public health. There has been an increasing concern worldwide on therapeutic values of natural products including essential oils. Hence, there are multitudes of potential useful bioactive substances to be derived from plants. With the recent trend of high percentage of resistance in microorganisms to the present-day antibiotics, search for new and effective drugs is a challenging task. This chapter discusses antimicrobial efficacy and suitability of plant essential oils against diverse range of microbial pathogens causing several diseases in human and agricultural industry. Also, a brief description of the chemical nature of essential oils, mode of antimicrobial action, their legal use in various beneficial industries, and the area for future research has been laid out.