Application of Chinese Herbal Medicine in the Inhibition of Salmonella and its virulence

Salmonellosis poses a serious challenge to public health and poultry industries worldwide.With the emergence of multi-drug resistant Salmonella,the burden caused by Salmonella infections has increased steadily.Enhancing the understanding of the Salmonella infection process may aid the development of new treatments and effective preventive strategies against the disease.This review outlined the Salmonella infection process and introduced the pathogenesis of Salmonella and its virulence factors,such as Type III Secretion Systems effectors.The author summarized the recent advances in the application of Chinese herbal medicine(CHM)in the inhibition of drug-resistant Salmonella and its virulence and discussed the possible mechanisms of CHM inhibiting Salmonella growth and affecting its virulence.CHM has been shown to be effective in inhibiting bacterial growth and alter the virulence properties of pathogens.It is shown that CHM is much less likely to produce drug resistance to bacteria comparing to conventional antibiotics.One reason for this is that CHM may enhance host immunity to control the bacterial infection indirectly whereas conventional antibiotics directly kill the bacteria or inhibit their growth.At present,the percentage of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella isolates is increasing globally.CHM shows great potential for the development of new medicines.It may be an alternative solution to preventing and treating Salmonellosis caused by antibiotic-resistant strains.Further studies on the molecular mechanisms of the active ingredients of CHM may help the future development of novel antibacterial drug designs to contain bacterial infections.