Chinese scientists have found a new gene, called mcr-1, in people and pigs in China that makes bacteria highly resistant to polymyxins -- a class of antibiotics that is widely used in livestock farming, according to a Reuter report on Wednesday.

The discovery was made by a team led by Liu Hua from South China Agricultural University. They found the gene on plasmids, a genetic structure in a cell that can replicate independent of the chromosome.

The gene has "the alarming potential" to spread and diversify between bacterial populations, according to their work published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal.

Scientists worry the superbug gene, mcr-1, is likely to emulate other resistance genes that may spread worldwide.

As the global demand for polymyxins for agricultural use is rising, scientists have called for global surveillance to detect mcr-1 resistance to prevent the spread of polymyxin-resistant bacteria.

"All use of polymyxins must be minimized as soon as possible and all unnecessary use stopped," Laura Piddock, a professor of microbiology at Britain's Birmingham University, told Reuters.

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