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Spate of prison illness attributed to AIDS

    JOHANNESBURG

    Tuberculosis and skin infections suffered by hundreds of inmates at Kenya's King'ong'o Prison on the outskirts of Nyeri town could be a result of HIV/AIDS and overcrowding, a health NGO has said.

    The Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU), said cases of sodomy - usually a catalyst for the spread of HIV in prisons - were also rife at the facility.

    According to a local newspaper, The Nation, an IMLU advising officer, Evans Wafula, urged the authorities to address the issue of disease and congestion as a matter of extreme urgency.

    The prison currently houses three times more inmates than its stated capacity of just 545.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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