International charities warned that, left unchecked, the disease’s spread might exacerbate similar outbreaks across the African region for weeks or months to come.

An ongoing civil war in Sudan has forced millions of people to flee their homes and move to camps, where a lack of water and sanitation infrastructure, along with heavy rains, are fueling a massive cholera outbreak.

Cholera has claimed at least 40 lives in Sudan's Darfur region over the last week as the country weathers its worst outbreak in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.