MODASA (SABARKANTHA): With three more deaths being reported on Friday, the hepatitis-B toll in Modasa and adjoining areas of Sabarkantha reached 32 even as 25 more were admitted in hospitals.As residents were engulfed with a sense of fear and helplessness, there was more bad news from the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Scientists believe that a mutated virus has assumed deadly virulence and affected many more persons than the 100-odd identified cases so far.Health minister Jay Narayan Vyas told TOI: “The outbreak may take another two to three weeks to taper off. But it may take another six months to wipe it out because the virus takes between 90 to 180 days to manifest itself and damage the defence mechanism of the human body.”Health officials said detection of the virus is difficult till the infection becomes really virulent. Even a vaccine will have no impact in the latent, infected population.A massive drive had been launched to inform people that the spread of the disease is not through air or water, but through blood, saliva and secretions from private organs.Infected needles used by private doctors are being blamed for the spread of the disease and a clampdown has been ordered on suspects. Five more doctors were booked for negligence, taking the tally to 12 in a week. Although 95 per cent of the affected population is from Modasa, stray cases are also coming from adjoining Meghraj.