Topeka ? A 78-year-old southwest Kansas resident has become the state’s first recorded fatality this year from West Nile virus, health officials announced.

The victim fell ill Sept. 5 and died in the last week, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The victim had the more severe, neurological form of West Nile virus.

Officials would not release further details on the individual or how the illness was contracted.

The fatal case of West Nile virus was one of 17 reported to the health department in Kansas so far this year. Health officials were unsure how many individuals with West Nile virus remained hospitalized Wednesday.

Last year, the health department confirmed 90 human West Nile virus cases and seven deaths. Private labs reported an additional 731 cases, with three deaths.

Watson said she could not explain the drastic drop-off in the disease but said it appeared to follow West Nile’s progression, from its first appearance in this country in the Northeast, through the middle of the nation and now to the West Coast.

“It seems that the disease has moved on to the western part of the United States,” Watson said.

“This year, the larger number of cases have been concentrated in California and Arizona.”