Angie Jeffries, spokeswoman for the medical examiner, says West Nile is suspected in the May 23 death of an Independence boy. She says the Missouri Department of Health is testing a sample for the virus and medical examiner is asking for several additional tests.

If West Nile is confirmed, it would be the earliest in a calendar year that a fatality from the disease has occurred in Missouri history. Since the state began tracking the mosquito-borne virus in 2002, most cases have occurred between July and September.

The earliest confirmed fatality in Missouri was a Laclede County man who contracted the illness May 28, 2014.