Yemen is facing the “world’s worst cholera outbreak”, with about 1,310 people dying from the disease since late April, according to the World Health Organization.

More than 200,000 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in the Arabian Peninsula country and as many as 300,000 people could become infected by the end of August, Margaret Chan, WHO’s director-general, said in a statement on Saturday.

“In just two months, cholera has spread to almost every governorate of this war-torn country,” Chan and Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, said.

“Already more than 1,300 people have died – one quarter of them children – and the death toll is expected to rise.”

READ MORE : WHO – Speed of Yemen cholera outbreak ‘unprecedented’

Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through contaminated food or water. It can be fatal within hours if left untreated.

Although the disease is easily treatable, doing so in Yemen, a country riven by conflict, has proved particularly difficult.

The UN has placed blame on all the rival sides and their international backers for the spread of cholera, which it calls a man-made humanitarian catastrophe.

“This is because of conflict. It’s man-made, it’s very severe. The numbers are absolutely staggering. It’s getting worse,” Stephen O’Brien, a senior UN humanitarian affairs official, said.

“The cholera element, in addition to all the lack of food, the lack of medical supplies … one has to put that at the door of all parties to the conflict.”