LANSING, MI (AP) -
Michigan officials say the state has had its first death from the West Nile virus, an elderly woman in Washtenaw County.
The Michigan Department of Community Health announced the death Thursday.
It isn't identifying the woman, saying only that she was 75 to 85 years old and was hospitalized earlier this month.
Officials have said an unusually warm spring encouraged the early hatching of the mosquitoes that transmit the virus.
The report comes one day after authorities reported confirming a case of the virus in a 5-year-old horse in Montcalm County.
Authorities are urging people to take steps so humans and horses don't get mosquito bites.
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