CAIRO -- Authorities at Cairo's international airport are screening Sudanese passengers for cholera under instructions of the World Health Organization because of outbreaks in some areas of Sudan.

Airport Quarantine chief Medhat Qandil said in a statement on Wednesday that doctors and nurses were working in passenger arrival halls and would send any suspected cases to the hospital.

The airport is already screening passengers coming from Yemen, due to a rapidly spreading epidemic there that has led to over 200,000 suspected cases.

The U.S. Embassy in Sudan in early June warned against a cholera outbreak, saying that cases had been confirmed in Sudan -- including in the greater Khartoum area -- that had resulted in fatalities.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal and bacterial infection caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water.