BAGHDAD - Five people have died and 2,000 others have been infected with cholera in northern Iraq because of poor water quality, U.N. officials reported.

UNICEF said that since Monday 500 people in the Sulaimaniya province and the nearby Kirkuk region have been hospitalized with severe diarrhea, CNN reported.

UNICEF said it was rushing emergency water purification kits to the region, as 47 cases have been confirmed as epidemic cholera. The bacterial disease is caused by drinking contaminated water and attacks the intestinal tract.

Aid workers have issued appeals in the area for parents to keep children away from areas where there is raw sewage and to boil water and wash hands with soap, the report said.

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