AN outbreak of diarrhoea has spread quickly through villages in a Kampong Cham district, killing two people and leaving more than 100 others sick, officials said.

Yin Vibol, deputy director of the Chamkar Leu district referral hospital, said that more than 100 people in the area were hospitalised Tuesday and Wednesday, overloading the facility and forcing officials to keep some of the ill sleeping outdoors under trees.

“It has taken only two days for the disease to spread in four villages,” Yin Vibol said. “This is the first time the villagers have faced such a serious outbreak.”

The Kampong Cham fatalities included a 13-year-old boy and a 70-year-old man, both of whom died Tuesday, he said.

“They got diarrhoea because they drank water from the well without boiling it and they ate bad food,” he said.

In Kratie province, Heng Sotha, the governor of Sambo district, said a 43-year-old woman died May 7, and that a further 30 people from two villages became ill.

Health Minister Mam Bunheng, who toured the stricken areas in Kampong Cham Wednesday, said health officials were ready to help.

“I want the people to come to health officials or referral hospitals when they have diarrhoea,” he said. “Don’t just stay at home and pray to God for help.”