SANAA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the diphtheria outbreak has killed at least 84 people in war-torn Yemen since late October.

WHO media coordinator Sadiq al-Wosabi told Xinhua by phone that 1,516 suspected cases of diphtheria have been recorded in 20 of Yemen's 23 provinces.

Diphtheria, which spreads through sneezing caused by a common cold, has mainly infected children in Yemen.

According to a WHO recent statement, the provinces of Ibb and Hodeidah were hardest hit by diphtheria.

In March, the WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Yemen's health authorities launched a large-scale vaccination campaign across the country to combat the disease.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces including the capital Sanaa in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military intervention coalition in Yemen since 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The UN has listed Yemen as the country of the world's most serious humanitarian crisis, where seven million Yemenis are on the brink of famine and cholera has caused more than 2,000 deaths.