From staff reports
The Minnesota Department of Health said Wednesday that four people have died from West Nile virus this year in Minnesota.
The department said an 86-year-old Olmsted County man developed encephalitis after becoming ill in late August. Olmsted County Public Health reported the death in mid-September, but the health department would not corroborate Public Health's statement until laboratory verification, which came Wednesday.
The family of Dr. David Dahlin, 86, a retired longtime Mayo Clinic surgical pathologist and expert on bone tumors, confirmed at the time of the Public Health statement that he died from complications of West Nile.
The health department now says 80 people have been infected with the mosquito-borne virus this year.
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Other deaths include:
A Clay County man in his 70s, the first death in the state from West Nile since it was reported in Minnesota in July 2002.
An 84-year-old Kandiyohi County man who developed encephalitis after becoming ill in late August.
An 82-year-old Chippewa County man. He became ill in early August and was hospitalized with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, before his death.
