ESSENTIAL OILS, A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO OVERCOME ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE CRISIS.

Having emerged as an ideal solution against pathogenic microorganisms, antimicrobial medication seems to have lost the battle today. The ability of the living world to survive and adapt exceeds the synthetic products power of action, leading us today to a real crisis of microbial resistance to antibiotics. An unexpected solution may come also from the bosom of nature, by reconsidering the role and place of the essential oils as antimicrobial combat weapons. Defensive mechanisms created by nature, the essential oils demonstrate extraordinary antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal activity. They also help the synthetic antibiotics in their battle. Among the essential oils and the antibiotics, often intervene synergistic or additive interactions. The essential oils favor the antibiotics to penetrate through the cell wall and to extend their action spectrum. Undoubtedly, essential oils can be of crucial help in the current medical practice, through their complex antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]