Maheshbhai Patel is busy attending to customers in his small grocery shop in Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation estate in Vapi, Gujarat.

Going into the general elections, Narendra Modi will fight not his rivals, but a virus. A Hepatitis B outbreak in the northern district of Modasa and nearby villages has claimed 61 lives since February and infected more than 185 people. The virus attacks the liver and can cause death from cirrhosis or cancer.