ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va -- A man in Rockingham County was diagnosed with West Nile virus in July, but he has since been treated and released from Rockingham Memorial Hospital.

This is one of only two cases in Virginia. The other case was reported in Roanoke. The Department of Health said the two cases are not unusual for Virginia.

There were nine cases last year, and typically there is an average of one to five cases a year. Workers with the Centers for Disease Control said, around the rest of the country, this is the largest West Nile outbreak since they started tracking the virus in 1999.

Forty-one people have already died from it, but Dr. George Larsen, a local health director with the Central Shenandoah Health District, said there are simple ways to prevent the infection.

“To help cut down the population in your own area, you want to make sure there's no standing water,” said Dr. Larsen. “It only takes a tiny amount of water, and it only takes four or five days for them to produce eggs, that then become larvae, and then become the mosquito.”

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