a review on post-antibiotic era: one health and herbal medicine in poultry

The fact is that the veterinary medicine and in particular avian medicine is considered as a preventive medicine. there is no doubt that predictable is preventable and let us to believe indepth that prevention is better than cure. more interesting is that most of medicinal plants act as a preventive medicine and their use fit into all existing prevention strategies (1,2) with a promising source for the post-antibiotic era (3) in tackling of infections in both animal and human health (4- 6). the history of medicine may have three phases including pre-antibiotic era (up to 1935), antibiotic era (1935-contiue), and post-antibiotic era. undoubtedly, antibiotic era were golden age of discovery of the antibiotic and human being was happy enough to treat the challengeable diseases, mostly bacterial infections. unfortunately, limitation on discovery of new drugs, increasing resistance of pathogenic agents to available drugs (7- 9) and drug residues in foods together with an increasing demand for antibiotic-free products have made it very clear that we have to move into post-antibiotic era. moreover, increasing human being population on one hand and detrimental human activities on the other hand, have made pollution and climate change leading to the depletion of natural resources and more devastation of our environment. therefore, there is a genuine understanding concerning health for all and one health approaches to address the global food safety challenges (7,8,10) starting since 2010. medicinal plants play a distinguished role in poultry feed additives (11-13) to help promote productivity and performance (8,14), and preventive medication (15). it is also used for treatment of all poultry diseases (16-19), increasing poultry resistance to infections, improvement of poultry immune system (14,16,20) and finally enrichment of birds products (meat, egg) (11,16). in conclusion, promotion of health for all & one-health system is not what we do, it is who we are. centuries of use in traditional medicine practices can be used as testimony that the medicinal plants ingredients are effective, safe, and have less side effects. medicinal plants have played an essential role in the development of human culture. who reported that 80% of the earth population rely on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. medicinal plants have potentials to play an essential role in the development of one-health as a health for human being, animals and the environment. recommendations: the scientists have an obligation to conduct scientific researches in- depth on the medicinal plants including their effects on blood profiles (14) in order to explore the medicinal properties of the plants, validate their use and overall commercialize traditional medicine (mechanism of action and practices) in modern medicine (19). there are some recommendations and future directions as follows: • dose-response trials to optimize supplementation levels. • analyses of active constituent pharmacokinetics and bioavailability in poultry tissues. • elucidation of mechanisms of action against target pathogen/s. • rigorously controlled long-term productivity studies including their side-effects. • systematic safety and toxicity evaluations in safety margin. • studies on withdrawal period to ensure customers with free-residual poultry products. • study on potential herb-herb and herb-drug interactions in vitro and in vivo. • cost-benefit for commercial formulation in different types of commercial poultry. • sensory and shelf-life impacts on final poultry products.