PORT SUDAN, Sudan (AFP) — Sudan’s health ministry reported on Tuesday a spike in cholera cases in the war-torn country, with 2,700 infections and 172 deaths in one week.

In a statement, the ministry said 90 percent of cases were reported in Khartoum state, where water and electricity supply have been severely disrupted in recent weeks by drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023.

Cases were also reported in the south, center and north of the country.

Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become far worse and more frequent since the war broke out, wrecking already fragile water and sanitation and health infrastructure.

Last Tuesday, the ministry said 51 people had died of cholera out of more than 2,300 reported cases over the past three weeks, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state.

The RSF this month launched drone strikes across Khartoum, including on three power stations, before being completely pushed out of their last holdout positions in the capital last week.

The strikes knocked electricity and subsequently the local water network out of service, according to Doctors without Borders (MSF), forcing residents to turn to unsafe water sources.

“Water treatment stations no longer have electricity and cannot provide clean water from the Nile,” Slaymen Ammar, MSF’s medical coordinator in Khartoum, said in a statement.

Cholera, an acute diarrheal illness caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, can kill within hours if untreated.