The South Korean health authorities have approved a domestically developed new drug that fights drug-resistant bacteria, or "superbugs."
 
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said on Friday that it approved Dong-A ST's Sivextro, a medicine that treats patients infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA).
 
The "superbugs," such as MRSA, are resistant to existing antibiotics and cause fatal illnesses. The number of superbug infection cases in South Korea has risen dramatically from some 22-thousand cases in 2011 to more than 80-thousand in 2013.