Residents of Yobe State are at increased risk to have Hepatitis B after about 350 people tested positive to the disease out of 5000 sampled recently in the state.
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Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. It is spread through contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person.
The results of the tests carried out by the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI), with support from the Yakubu Gowon Centre means 17.5 per cent of the people, who underwent the tests were afflicted by the disease.
A worrying result, the State Coordinator, National Blood Transfusion Service, Potiskum-Nangere Centre, Dr. Alhassan Umar Adamu, called on stakeholders to tackle the situation.
Adamu said, “Donor agencies and government can fund research in this area so as to uncover the main reasons behind the high incidence rate of the infection in our population with a view to averting the spread of the disease.”
He explained that the population of Yobe’s residents infected with Hepatitis B was unknown saying, “I cannot give the exact figure, but it is at an alarming rate in the entire north-east. Many patients have tested positive here and in Damaturu. Also, these patients are not only faced with the risk of liver problems and death, but also the risk of transmitting it to others.”
