Natural products and their semi-synthetic derivatives against antimicrobial-resistant human pathogenic bacteria and fungi

Human infectious diseases caused by various microbial pathogens, in general, impact a large population of individuals every year. These microbial diseases that spread quickly remain to be a big issue in various health-related domains and to withstand the negative drug impacts, the antimicrobial-resistant patho-genic microbial organisms (pathogenic bacteria and pathogenic fungi) have developed a variety of resis-tance processes against many antimicrobial drug classes. During the COVID-19 outbreak, there seems to be an upsurge in drug and multidrug resistant-associated pathogenic microbial species. The preponder-ance of existing antimicrobials isn't completely effective, which limits their application in clinical set-tings. Several naturally occurring chemicals produced from bacteria, plants, animals, marine species, and other sources are now being studied for antimicrobial characteristics. These natural antimicrobial compounds extracted from different sources have been demonstrated to be effective against a variety of diseases, although plants remain the most abundant source. These compounds have shown promise in reducing the microbial diseases linked to the development of drug tolerance and resistance. This paper offers a detailed review of some of the most vital and promising natural compounds and their derivatives against various human infectious microbial organisms. The inhibitory action of different natural antimi-crobial compounds, and their possible mechanism of antimicrobial action against a range of pathogenic fungal and bacterial organisms, is provided. The review will be useful in refining current antimicrobial (antifungal and antibacterial) medicines as well as establishing new treatment strategies to tackle the ris-ing number of human bacterial and fungal-associated infections.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Human infectious diseases caused by microbial pathogens continue to be a major health issue. Antimicrobial-resistant pathogens have developed resistance to existing drugs, leading to an upsurge in drug-resistant microbial species during the COVID-19 outbreak. Natural antimicrobial compounds extracted from various sources, particularly plants, show promise in combating drug tolerance and resistance. This review provides a detailed analysis of these compounds and their potential mechanisms of action against pathogenic fungi and bacteria, offering insights for improving current antimicrobial treatments and addressing the rising number of bacterial and fungal infections.