Due to worldwide abuse of chemical antibiotics and continuous emergence of "superbugs", the harm of bacterial drug resistance to human beings has become more and more serious. Therefore, it is of great significance to look for green antibiotics with a wide range of sources, broad antibacterial spectrum, non-toxicity or low toxicity, environmentally friendliness, diverse active components and low drug resistance. The volatile oil of traditional Chinese medicine is a kind of volatile oily liquid that exists in plants and can be distilled with steam and immiscible with water. Because of its good potential to resist drug-resistant pathogens, it is widely used in food, medicine and other fields. This paper summarized the antibacterial advantages and characteristics of volatile oil of traditional Chinese medicine, and the antibacterial effect and antibacterial mechanism of combined application of volatile oil of traditional Chinese medicine, in order to provide some theoretical basis and study ideas for solving the problem of bacterial drug resistance and developing natural and green antibiotics.
Keywords: antibacterial activity; antibacterial mechanism; drug resistance; green antibiotics; herbal volatile oil; synergistic effect.