Local Iraqi authorities declared a state of emergency on Monday after cholera killed eight people in Babil province south of Baghdad in three days, with another 500 suspected to have contracted the disease, Reuters reported. Twenty other cases of cholera, which can sometimes kill victims with sudden severe diarrhoea, have been confirmed. Officials declared the state of emergency at a news conference. Scarcity of water during Iraq's scorching summer forces many to drink water from unsafe sources. More than 4,000 cases of cholera were diagnosed in Iraq last year, killing at least 24.
