Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is amongst those microorganisms that have the potential to cause broad-spectrum infections. The bacteria can be both hospital and community-acquired due to the resistance mechanism developed against the available antibiotics. As the bacteria is resistant to almost all β-lactam antibiotic families, its treatment is becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore, new strategies should be implemented to control the pathogen which is fast transforming as a multi-drug resistant (MDR) microorganism. Medicinal plants serve as an alternative candidate to antibiotics due to their efficacy and have attracted many researchers in the last decade. Several studies are being carried out worldwide to treat this pathogenic bacterium with the active ingredients present in various plant species. This review paper aims to depict the antibacterial activity of different medicinal plants and the impact of the isolated bioactive compounds against the multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogen-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and to introspect the mechanism of action of the natural prod-ucts in interrupting the resistance mechanism of MRSA thereby killing the bacteria

Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, medicinal plants, synergism, antibacterial ac-tivity, β-lactam antibiotic, natural product.