BRAZZAVILLE, Feb 4 (Reuters) - An outbreak of cholera in the Republic of Congo has reached the capital Brazzaville, killing four people there and pushing the death toll this year to 82, a senior medical official said on Sunday.

Cases of the water-borne disease were first recorded in early January in the coastal oil-exporting city of Pointe Noire, 515 km (320 miles) from the inland capital.

"Today we are at 82 dead and 2,700 recorded cases, in Pointe-Noire and the surrounding area ... but Brazzaville is also affected, with four dead out of nine recorded cases there," Damase Bozongo, director-general of the country's health department, told Reuters.

The intestinal infection causes diarrhoea and can be transmitted by food or water contaminated with faeces. Its spread to Brazzaville in spite of the authorities' efforts to control it has caused concern in the central African country.

Last week Health Minister Nestor Alphonse Gando appealed to people "not to panic, to follow basic hygiene guidelines and to seek free treatment in medical centres opened for the sick."

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