The difference between chemical and natural element-based antimicrobial products
Chemical antimicrobial agents generally interact with one specific microbe site, whereas those based on natural elements interact with several sites on the microbe, using a range of attack mechanisms – basically suffocating the organism. This difference is extremely important because it is linked to the problem of antibiotic resistance. This resistance develops when the microbe manages to react to the attack mechanism. As chemical antimicrobial agents use one mode of attack only, the microbes stand a higher chance of developing a resistance to them.
