Urgent health alert issued over superbug in Melbourne hospitals

Hospitals across Victoria are on high alert after the outbreak of a superbug which may have contributed to 18 deaths since 2012.

Health authorities took the action, following a recent spike in confirmed cases of patients with the superbug.

Almost 60 people in Victoria have been infected by antibiotic-resistant superbug CRE in the past 13 years.

The superbug reportedly kills around half of those infected, with elderly patients making up the majority of the deaths.

The Victorian Health Department instructed all hospitals in the state to step up infection control procedures.

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Finn Romanes said CRE needs to be taken "extremely seriously".

"It's very much the tip of an iceberg of an international problem known as anti-microbial resistance," Dr Romanes said.

Some of the patients affected were at St Vincent's Hospital in Fitzroy, where a spokesman confirmed staff are making progress in eradicating the superbug but it was "early days".