The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed the death of a elderly northwest Iowa resident from the West Nile Virus. Doctor Patricia Quinlisk, the department’s medical director, says this is the first West Nile death in the state since 2010, and it comes as cases have spiked up.

 

Quinlisk says the identity of person who died is kept confidential, but it is someone who is more than 80 years old.

 

Since West Nile first appeared in Iowa in 2002, it has been found in every county in Iowa, either in humans, horses, or birds. The last death caused by West Nile virus was in 2010, and there were two deaths that year.