Dozens of inmates at the Wau Central Prison in Western Bahr el Ghazal State are suffering from an unknown disease outbreak.

On Wednesday, inmates at the facility who spoke to South Sudanese local media said they have been suffering from the mysterious disease, characterized by itching and body pains, since December last year.

Deng Awan, one of the infected inmates, said he had been suffering from the disease without proper treatment since December 4th.

“I had rashes on my private parts, and they were itchy. This is a serious disease. I can’t sleep at night, and all my body is paining; it is itching, but when touched, the rashes burst into wounds,” he said.

Deng Ring Kuol, a fellow inmate, said he had unsuccessfully used a prescribed drug to cure the rashes on his body. “The drug that was given to me does not help; since I was given it, it is not doing anything; my body is all painting,” said Kuol.

Reached for comment, George Gabriel Gilo, the Director of the Wau Prison, confirmed the disease outbreak.

“For sure, this disease started with 15 to 16 inmates in November, and right now, some of them are still under treatment,” he said.

Gilo thanked the Don Bosco group in Wau for their continued support of the facility.

“They have not let us down; they have been helping us here at the Central Prison, including in the juvenile site where we have such cases,” he said.

Gilo said they suspected that the disease could be a result of poor hygiene among the inmates who do not take baths with bathing soap, which he said is provided to them every week.

“The reason is about high temperature and poor hygiene, even in our homes, if there is congestion in the room, such infections will appear, and also some of them are contributing to such disease,” the prison boss said.

Gilo called on local health partners to intervene and unravel the puzzle at the Wau Central Prison.