A person died in a hospital in the Netherlands after contracting West Nile virus in the country, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) announced today.

Last week, the RIVM reported the first case of West Nile virus infection in the Netherlands since 2020 and added that the number of infected people in the country may now have risen to three.

It is not yet known whether the person who died is among the previously reported cases, and the RIVM has provided no further information about the case.

The virus, which is transmitted to humans primarily through mosquito bites, can cause acute and life-threatening illness in approximately one in every 150 people infected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO has said that higher temperatures give mosquitoes more time and opportunities to transmit West Nile virus in Europe, and that cases are increasing this summer in Greece and Italy.

The RIVM notes, however, that it remains “very unlikely” for people to contract the virus in the Netherlands.