Papua New Guinea's cholera outbreak is reported to have engulfed nearly 2,000 people, a World Health Organization official revealed Monday as he warned that poor water sanitation was making the disease hard to contain.

The country's first cholera outbreak in 50 years was initially reported on the country’s north coast in July last year and since then about 40 people have died.

WHO representative Eigil Sorensen quoted that the number of deaths so far remained modest at fewer than 50, however, the disease continued to spread unceasingly on account of poor water supplies and as infected people, including those with no symptoms of the sickness, travelled around.

In addition, he pointed that many areas of Papua New Guinea, particularly crowded residential locations on the outskirts of cities with no proper sewage systems, posed the ideal conditions for the spread of cholera.

"We feel that from a public health perspective it is very important to address the water issue and the government needs to do more. Otherwise there is the risk that cholera spreads to other provinces and becomes endemic in Papua New Guinea”, he revealed.

Cholera, a water-borne disease which can also be transmitted by food that has been in contact with sewage, causes serious diarrhea and vomiting leading to dehydration.