LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Variations of two deadly superbugs that had previously only been discovered in the United States have surfaced in South America . Variations of two U.S. strains of killer bacteria have cropped up in South America , researchers say . The drug-resistant microorganisms are sweeping across communities in Colombia and have the potential to unleash devastating results , according to researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston . `` The people of Colombia are not aware this is coming . It is killing people here and it is going to kill a lot of people there if we do n't act quickly , '' Dr. Cesar Arias , one of the lead researchers of the study , told CNN . The study , which was carried out with the Universidad El Bosque in Bogota , was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday . The bugs that have emerged in Colombia are genetically related to two strains of bacteria -- MRSA and VREF -- that have spread across the United States . MRSA , or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , was once spread mainly in hospitals . In recent years , a number of people not in contact with hospitals have presented with the disease , which is a leading cause of severe skin infections in the United States . VREF , which stands for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium , mainly arises in hospitals and infects people in critical care units . Both so-called superbugs can cause lethal infections and are resistant to antibiotics . There were no known cases of this type of MRSA in Colombia before 2005 , and no cases of VREF before 2001 , the study said . But a total of 15 MRSA infections have been reported in Colombia in recent years and some 50 cases of VREF have been identified since it was first documented in the country . The MRSA strain has also been found in Ecuador and Venezuela . For some reason , the bacteria in South America are acting in a similar way as their genetic forebears in the United States , Arias , who is an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the UT Medical School at Houston , said . They are becoming more resistant and spreading the same way , Arias explained . `` The dramatic thing is the first 15 patients who had this disease presented out of hospital , and 20 percent of these patients died , '' he said . Researchers are tracking the cases to see how the organisms got to South America . The focus now , Arias said , is to establish the link between the two regions and to figure out how to control their spread .
Disease that can cause lethal infections are hitting North America . The germs are genetically related to two strains of bacteria found in the wild . Researchers are tracking them to see how the organisms got there .