More than two-thirds of confirmed cholera cases are in the northern province of Kirkuk.

More than 2,000 people in Iraq are suffering from cholera, which is spreading across the country, the World Health Organisation has said.

Eleven people have died and new cases of the disease have been confirmed in Baghdad, Basra and for the first time the northern districts of Tikrit, Mosul and Dahuk, according to a WHO report.

The global health body said it estimates that more than 30,000 people have fallen ill with acute watery diarrhea, which may later be confirmed as cholera.

More than two-thirds of the confirmed cases are in the northern province of Kirkuk, where cholera was first reported on August 13, WHO said.

While the number of deaths from the disease has so far been low, the WHO said in the report: "It continues to spread across Iraq and dissemination to as yet unaffected areas remains highly possible."

Fatal dehydration

A new case in Baghdad has taken the number of confirmed infections there to two, said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.

A woman in the Iraqi capital died from the disease on Monday.

Six cases have also been confirmed in Tikrit and two have been confirmed in Mosul, both to the northwest of Baghdad.

One case has been confirmed in Dahuk, in the far north of the country near the Turkish border.

Chaignat said a further confirmed case in Basra was likely to be unrelated to the other outbreaks, as cholera is endemic to the southern district.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease that is typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhea that can lead to fatal dehydration in serious cases.

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