BAGHDAD, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's Health Ministry said that 417 cholera cases have been reported in Iraq after detecting some 80 new cases across the country, an official newspaper al-Sabah reported on Monday.

    "A total of 417 cholera cases have been detected across Iraq by the central laboratories in Baghdad," the paper quoted ministry spokesman Ehasn Jaafar as saying.

    Jaafar said that 80 new cases have been detected suffer from acute watery diarrhea in the past five days across the country, including one in Diwaniyah province in south of Baghdad.

    So far, six people have died by the disease, he said.

    The latest discovery of new cholera cases raises fears of a new spread of the disease across the country, which suffers deterioration of water facilities after more than five years of U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

    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 the disease, among which 3,315 were identified as positive for vibrio cholera, 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 deadly 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.