A second Belgian picked up the bug after being hospitalised from an accident during a trip to his native Montenegro, but recovered following treatment back in Belgium, another expert said.

The first victim was infected by the bacteria while being treated in a hospital in Pakistan and died in June, Denis Pierard, a microbiologist from AZ VUB hospital in Brussels where the man had been treated, told Belgian media. Despite being administered colistin, a powerful antibiotic, the patient died, Pierard said.

The superbug - found in bacteria carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene - was first identified last year in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in India.

Youri Glupczynski from the University of Leuven told AFP on August 13 that the second Belgian patient had been treated in a hospital in the Antwerp region in July following his return from Montenegro and allowed to go home after his condition improved.

British medical journal The Lancet reported this week that bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene had been found in 37 Britons who had received medical treatment in South Asia, while three cases have been reported in Australia.

Belgian hospitals have stepped up vigilance against the bug, particularly among patients who have been hospitalized overseas, several hospitals said on August 13.