BASRA, Iraq, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- A three-year-old child was announced dead of cholera in the Maysan province in southern Iraq, raising fears of spreading the disease throughout the country, a provincial medical source said on Thursday.

    "Sajjad Farhan Zeki, died on Wednesday in the town of al-Auzeir,70 km south of the provincial capital of Amara, by cholera disease," Jamal al-Alawi, spokesman of Maysan health Directorate told Xinhua.

    He said that Zeki was among 23 similar cases in the province that detected suffer from acute watery diarrhea.

    Alawi's announcement raised fears among Iraqis that the disease could widely spread across the country.

    Last year, cholera epidemic spread in nine Iraqi provinces out of 18 across the country. According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than 30,000 people have fallen ill with acute watery diarrhea, among which 3,315 were identified as positive for Vibriocholera, the bacterium causing the disease.

    In a statement on its website, the WHO said that a total of 14 people are known to have died of the disease in the country last year.

    Cholera, one of the 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 even death if not treated promptly.