Deadly, nearly untreatable superbugs known as CRE, dubbed “nightmare bacteria,” have spread at an alarming rate throughout the southeastern region of the US in recent years, new research indicates.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found cases of antibiotic-resistant CRE – or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae – increased by at least a factor of five in community hospitals across the region from 2008 to 2012.