Cholera Outbreak Kills Fourth Person

A fourth person has died of cholera in southern Ukraine, the Health Ministry said Friday.

Ministry spokesman Anatoly Voloshin said 273 people have been diagnosed with cholera since the outbreak began June 5 in the southern town of Nikolayev, 235 miles south of Kiev.

An additional 158 people have been identified as carriers of the bacteria that causes the disease, and cholera has now spread to surrounding regions, he said.

Officials say the water of the Yuzny Bug River is the main source of the outbreak.

Ukraine has been beset by cholera and outbreaks of other diseases since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the state health care system and sanitation infrastructure in shambles.