Beirut - (AFP) - The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that it had recorded the first death from cholera , with the number of infections rising after an outbreak of the highly dangerous disease in neighboring Syria .

Lebanon recorded 26 cases of cholera this month, in light of the collapse of the sewage system and infrastructure, three years after the start of the unprecedented economic crisis.

"What unites these cases is that the majority of them are displaced Syrians," Health Minister Firas Al-Abyad said on Tuesday.

"What constitutes a fertile ground for the spread of the epidemic in Lebanon is the absence of basic services in the places where refugees gather, such as safe water or water drainage," Al-Abyadh added.

Syria recorded 41 cholera deaths and more than 700 infections, according to what was reported on Tuesday by the official news agency (SANA).

For its part, the United Nations warned earlier this month that the outbreak was "evolving in an alarming manner."

Lebanon hosts more than a million refugees who fled the Syrian war that broke out in 2011.

Most Syrian refugees live in poverty, their living conditions worsened by Lebanon's economic problems.

Cholera is generally transmitted from contaminated food or water and causes diarrhea and vomiting.

It can spread in residential areas that lack proper sanitation or drinking water.

Cholera can kill within hours if left untreated, according to the World Health Organization, but many infected people are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

The disease can be easily treated with oral rehydration solution, but more serious cases may require intravenous fluids and antibiotics, according to the World Health Organization.

The disease affects between 1.3 million to four million people every year around the world, and leads to death between 21 thousand and 143 thousand people.