Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Fears of a cholera outbreak are growing in northern Iraq after dozens of cases were detected in two northern provinces, a medical source said on Thursday.

    "Cholera and diarrhea are spreading in the provinces Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk after tests in the provincial hospitals' laboratories confirmed the cases," the source from Kirkuk public hospital told Xinhua by telephone.

    The hospitals also sent the samples to Baghdad's laboratories for more confirmation, he said.

    Last week, Zeryan Uthman, minister of health in the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq, said in a news conference that 35 cases were found to be infected with cholera in the Sulaimaniyah province, 330 km northeast of Baghdad, and 47 more cases were detected in Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the capital.

    Uthman said that 4000 more suspected cases are probably infected by the disease as they are suffering from diarrhea which is one of the cholera's symptoms.

    He called on the World Health Organization (WHO) and both the regional Kurdish and Iraqi central governments to exert every efforts to control the spread of the disease to other areas.

    Cholera, one of nature's most killing diseases, is a highly contagious water-borne disease which causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if not treated promptly.