Japan has confirmed its first case of an antibiotic-resistant superbug, detected in a Japanese man who first had been treated in India.

Japanese health officials say researchers found the NDM-1 gene in a man in his 50s who had traveled to India in 2009 and was later hospitalized when he returned to Japan. Blood tests detected the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, although the patient recovered fully.

The World Health Organization warned last month that the ability of micro-organisms to escape the intended effects of drug treatment is an increasing global health problem and could affect control of such diseases as respiratory infections and dysentery.

Along with India, the new superbug gene has been detected in a small number of cases in Australia, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain.

In August, a Belgian man became the first known person to die from the new drug-resistant gene.

Some information in this story was provided by AP and AFP.