a) Applied Plant Science Division, Agri-Food & Bioscience Institute, Northern Ireland
b) Grosvenor Grammar School, Northern Ireland
c) Northern Ireland Public Health Laboratories, Department of Bacteriology, Belfast City, Northern Ireland
d) School of Biomedical Sciences, Centre for Molecular Sciences, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 15 (2009) 5-7

Antibiotic agents have been in widespread and largely effective therapeutic use since their discovery in the 20th century. However, with the emergence of multi-drug resistant pathogens now presents an increasing global challenge to both human and veterinary medicine. It is now widely acknowledged that there is a need to develop novel antimicrobial agents to minimize the threat of further antimicrobial resistance, With this in mind, a study was undertaken to examine the antimicrobial properties of aqueous extracts of “exotic” Shitake and Oyster mushrooms on a range of environmental and clinically important microorganisms.