Superbugs resistant to all antibiotics have spread to Europe for the first time - and they could already be in New Zealand, a senior Kiwi scientist warns.
The news comes the day after it was revealed a patient in Denmark has become infected with an untreatable form of salmonella.
Danish scientists also discovered untreatable bacteria in five samples of chicken imported from China via Germany.
Experts fear it is the start of a global epidemic of untreatable infections.
Dr Richard Doehring, a medical microbiologist in Christchurch, said he would be "very surprised" if the bacteria - found in a gene called MCR-1 - wasn't already here.