N'DJAMENA, Aug 27, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A cholera epidemic at a camp for Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Chad has killed 68 people since it broke out in late July, the Chadian health ministry told AFP on Tuesday.

Chad is home to more than 850,000 Sudanese refugees fleeing the deadly civil war between Sudan's army and the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted in April 2023, according to the UN refugee agency.

Many of those refugees are crammed into camps with little access to safe drinking water and healthcare, deficiencies the United Nations blamed on Monday for the waterborne disease's rapid spread.

"Since the first cholera case at the Dougui refugee camp was recorded and up until August 26, 2025 we've totalled 1,016 cases", among them "68 deaths", said the health ministry's communications director Tadjadine Mahamat Allamamine.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with bacteria, often from faeces.

It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps.

Cholera can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, or antibiotics in more severe cases.

Sudan has been the country worst affected by cholera since 2023, with more than 2,400 deaths reported so far this year, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders.