An area soldier fighting in Afghanistan has died, not from the war, but from an insect bite.

22-year-old sergeant Robert David Gordon II, of River Falls, got sick last Friday and died Wednesday at a hospital in Germany.

Family members say they were told by military officials that Gordon contracted a virus after being bitten by a tick.

Gordon is from River Falls near Andalusia in Covington county.

He was assigned to the 5th Stryker brigade combat team out of Ft. Lewis Washington.

The team deployed to Afghanistan in July.