The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) confirmed on Wednesday that superbugs are present in the country.

Superbugs are especially worrying to physicians and public health officials globally since even powerful, last-resort antibiotics are futile against them. Since 2011, KCDC has surveyed 9,300 bacteria samples from Korean hospitals. In those samples, scientists discovered three cases of Mobile Colistin Resistance-1 (MCR-1) genes—genes which are ultimately capable of making bacteria antibiotic-resistant, Korea Joongang Daily reports.

MCR-1 converts bacteria to be resistant to the antibiotics colistin and carbapenem, which physicians usually deploy only in last-ditch situations for patients with multi-drug-resistant infections, Korea Joongang Daily notes.

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