China's health authorities Tuesday announced the country's first three cases of NDM-1, a multi-drug resistant super bacteria.

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) official Ni Daxin said at a press conference that two cases were detected from samples submitted by the local CDC in the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and one from the southeastern Fujian Province.

The samples from Ningxia were drawn from faeces of two infants born on March 8 and March 11. Both were born underweight and showed symptoms of diarrhea and respirational infections two days after birth. One suffered an oxygen deficiency.

One of the babies recovered after nine days in hospital and the other after 14 days. They remained healthy, said Ni.

Although the two babies were diagnosed as carrying the NDM-1 bacteria, there was no link between the bacteria and their illnesses, said the official.

The other sample from Fujian was identified from an 83-year-old, who died on June 11. Ni said the primary cause of death was late-term lung cancer, and the role of the drug-resistant bacteria in the development of disease was unclear.

NDM-1 is most prevalent in South Asia, but has also been found in Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, the United States and Sweden.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2010)