Nineteen people died of cholera in South Sudan's Upper Nile state over the last three weeks, medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported Thursday.

 In a press relesae, MSF said that since early July their teams have treated over 904 patients in internally displaced persons (IDP) communities in Malakal and Wau Shilluk.

"In Wau Shilluk, an area with an estimated population of 50,000 people, IDPs have been forced to use unprotected surface water and most people undertake open defecation given the extremely low number of latrines," MSF said.

Cholera is a disease that thrives in congested, unsanitary environments.

Nationwide, there have been 4,765 cholera cases and 109 total deaths since April, according to MSF.

Photo: a health treatment center, courtesy MSF.

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