Public health officials in Ontario have confirmed  that two people have died after contracting the West Nile virus in what they called the worst the outbreak in a decade.

Health officials in the province’s southwest attributed the death of a 71-year-old man in Windsor-Essex County to the virus today.

Public Health Ontario says there have been 220 confirmed and probable cases of West Nile in the province as of September 25th.

That includes a 74-year-old Toronto man whose death two weeks ago has been attributed to the virus.

The only year Ontario had more cases  was in 2002 –  the first year West Nile virus cases were reported in Canada.

That  year there were 394 human cases.