Hepatitis B has continue to ravage Moyo district killing a total of 13 people and infecting 92 others since it broke out in the district in July last year.
Simon Amudat, the district Disease Surveillance Officer says the most affected areas are Moyo, Metu, Dufile, Idula and Dimara sub counties and Moyo town council which are along the river Nile belt.
He says the virus can cause an acute illness with symptoms that last several weeks, including yellowing of the skin and eyes, dark urine, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Amudat says it can cause a chronic liver infection that can later develop into the cancer of the liver.
The virus is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person like HIV/Aids virus.
He says the district health department has so far spent 5.6 billion shillings for the screening and testing exercise since the virus broke out in the district last July.
Fred Ijjo, the senior Laboratory Officer at Moyo Main Hospital says a total of 246 people have been tested in the hospital since October last year to January this year. 44 of them were tested positive.
He says the virus is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV and is only preventable with a safe and effective vaccine.
He accordingly appealed to government to conduct a public vaccination exercise against the virus in the district.
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