New West Nile virus death brings Netherlands toll to 10

Tiger Mosquito - Credit: - License: DepositPhotos Health Thursday, 8 October 2026 - 14:30

Another person in the Netherlands has died after contracting West Nile virus during the first week of October, according to the latest weekly update from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Three new infections were reported between October 1 and 7, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the virus in the Netherlands this year to 59. Ten of those patients have died.

This continues the decline in new infections that the RIVM had predicted. An RIVM spokesperson said the end of the mosquito season is one of the factors behind the drop.

West Nile virus circulates among birds and can be transmitted by mosquitoes to humans and other animals. All three newly reported infections were caused by bites from infected mosquitoes. The decline is also linked to birds developing immunity and the virus becoming less active as temperatures fall.

The virus was not necessarily the direct cause of death in all ten cases. The people who died were older and/or had underlying health conditions, according to the RIVM spokesperson.

Most of this year's West Nile virus infections have been recorded in Zuid-Holland. Cases have also been reported in Utrecht, Noord-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Gelderland and Overijssel. The three latest infections involve two people in Zuid-Holland and one in Utrecht.

There were 13 more horses tested positive for West Nile virus over the past week, according to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). That brings the total number of infected horses recorded in the Netherlands this year to 163.

The virus can cause flu-like symptoms in horses, although most infected animals, like most infected people, do not develop symptoms. The NVWA said there is a small risk that a horse could die from the infection.

Reporting by ANP