South Korea confirmed Thursday that two people were infected with a bacterium resistant to most antibiotics, the health ministry said.
It is the first time that the NDM-1 CRE, also called the superbacteria, has been confirmed in Korea, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The patients -- one man in his 50s and one woman in her 70s -- have been treated each for lung disease and diabetes for a long period of time in the same hospital before being diagnosed with the bacterium. Two other patients there are also suspected of being infected, with further tests underway.
"The NDM-1 CRE usually affects patients who are being treated in intensive care units for a long period of time or whose immune systems have been significantly weakened," a ministry official said.