VIENTIANE, Laos (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -- A cholera outbreak killed four people in southern Laos before health workers could halt the disease, state media reports said Wednesday.

Acting director of the provincial Health Department, Chanthavong Xayasena, said the outbreak began on July 5 when two families in Darkpokmay village purchased tilapia fish in Sanxay market to eat and fell sick.

The outbreak killed four and made 216 ill in 14 villages in Attapeau, the country's southernmost province that borders both Vietnam and Cambodia, before health workers brought it under control, the Vientiane Times reported

Officials provided a clean water supply and toilets for the affected communities to cope with the epidemic with funding from the charity Health Unlimited.

"Inadequate hygiene and poor sanitation are a major cause of cholera," Chanthavong said.

Cholera is caused by vibrio cholerae, a water-borne bacterium that when ingested by humans causes severe diarrhoea that can lead to death if not treated on time.

The disease causes between 100,000 and 200,000 fatalities worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Copyright 2010 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH