Colistin and kanamycin together in association with Coridothymus capitatus to enhance their antimicrobial activity and fight multidrug resistance pathogens

It should be remembered that bacteria continue to spread and develop new types of resistance, so further actions are needed to deal with antibiotic resistance. As a result, antibacterial drugs have become less effective, resulting in the accelerated discovery of available alternative treatments, including essential oils. The aim of this work was to intensify and promote the action of two antibiotics, kanamycin, and colistin, to fight antibiotic resistance thanks to the action of essential oil obtained from the flowers of Coridothymus capitatus grown on the Iblei mountains. To this end, a comparison of biological and chemical assays was carried out. The results showed a broad antimicrobial power of the essential oil itself and a great synergistic activity in combination with Kanamycin and Colistin against multidrug-resistant bacteria. These combinations increased the range of antibiotics, leading us to speculate that it could be incorporated into new pharmaceutical formulations for therapies of infections caused by increasingly dangerous bacteria. Antibiotic resistance represents an ever-greater danger to human health. This work re-evaluates the use of colistin and kanamycin thanks to the synergistic action found with the addition of a natural substance to pave the way for new therapeutic strategies.