West Nile will be back, but likely in a lesser form come Spring

While Iowa’s now seen its first death attributed to the West Nile Virus, state health officials says they don’t expect more. State Epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk she we’ve only had one death in 30 cases — which is about what they would expect. An unidentified man in his 80’s from west-central Iowa was revealed Thursday as the first West Nile death in Iowa. Quinlisk says the disease doesn’t stand out.She says most people never even have symptoms of the disease and never even know they have the disease. Quinlisk says the number of confirmed cases of West Nile is likely to drop next year. She says there are a number of factors that will determine how strongly it comes back.She says temperatures, the number of mosquitoes, the number of birds with the disease all will determine the strength of the disease next year. And she says those who’ve been infected this year may be able to fight off the disease next year. Quinlisk says there’s some indication that those who’ve been infected develop some immunity to the disease that protects them from re-infection.