TOKYO, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Japanese experts say they fear an enzyme that turns bacteria into superbugs resistant to antibiotics may be able to similarly affect poisonous bacteria.

A case of NMD-1, resistant to virtually all antibiotics, was found in its first Japanese victim Monday, Tokyo's Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

The feverish patient, a man in his 50s, was found to have E. coli affected by the NDM-1 enzyme. He was discharged after being treated, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

The superbug's formal name is New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, as it was discovered in New Delhi, the newspaper reported.

Medical experts fear poisonous bacteria such as salmonella and dysentery bacillus may become superbugs resistant to antibiotics, the newspaper said.

The World Health Organization said it put out an international warning about the NDM-1 superbug.

Since the superbug was discovered in India, it has spread to Britain and the United States through patients who had surgeries in India. The first death directly attributed to NDM-1 was reported last month in Belgium, the newspaper said.