Eight people have died from cholera in Sudan including six in the war-torn state of Blue Nile, according to the World Health Organization, amid a surge in the number of reported cases.

Axar.az reports citing Alarabiya that a total of 184 cases of cholera has been reported in the northeast African country over the past month, including 128 cases from the Blue Nile and 56 in Sinnar state, WHO said in a statement late Wednesday citing health ministry records.

“We are working around the clock with the federal ministry of health, state authorities and partners to control the outbreak and prevent more deaths,” WHO Sudan head Naeema al-Gasseer said in the statement.

WHO said a shipment of 36 tons of cholera treatment medicines and supplies have arrived in Khartoum and are being prepared for distribution as part of the organization’s response activities.

The shipment also contains medicine to treat 2,500 severely dehydrated patients, which is set to be distributed to cholera treatment centers in Blue Nile and Sinnar states, as well as other neighboring high-risk states.”

Cholera, a bacterial disease usually contracted from contaminated water supplies, can be fatal if not treated early.’

Open defecation, lack of clean water outside Khartoum, and a dilapidated health sector further increases the threats from such diseases in a country of about 40 million people.