The first Illinois resident to die of West Nile virus this year was a Lake County resident who succumbed to the disease earlier this month, the state health department announced Tuesday.
The person, who was in their 80s, experienced symptoms in mid-August and died shortly after that, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Illinois has also had nine nonfatal cases of West Nile virus so far this year, mostly in Cook County, with others in DuPage, Will, Winnebago and Tazewell counties.
Last year, six Illinois residents died of the disease, which is transmitted through mosquito bites.
“Sadly, Illinois is reporting our first death of the year attributed to West Nile virus,” said Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the state health department, in a news release. “This death — and the six that occurred last year in Illinois — are a stark reminder that West Nile virus poses a serious risk, especially to older people and those with weakened immune systems.”
About 80% of people with the virus show no symptoms. But those who do often experience fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches lasting from a few days to a few weeks. In rare cases, people can become severely ill, experiencing brain infections such as meningitis or encephalitis and paralysis or death. People who are older than 50 or who are immunocompromised are at greater risk of severe illness.
So far this year, there have been 289 cases of West Nile virus reported across 33 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There’s no specific treatment for the virus or vaccine against it.
State health officials recommend people protect against the virus by keeping their windows and doors closed, and by making sure they have tight-fitting screens. They also recommend eliminating or refreshing, on a weekly basis, sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed such as bird baths, ponds, flowerpots and wading pools. And they recommend wearing clothes that cover the skin when outside and using an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR 3535.
They also recommend reporting locations that have stagnant water for more than a week such as roadside ditches and flooded yards, so that local health departments or city governments can address them.
The Illinois death comes shortly after news that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious disease expert, was recently recovering at home after being hospitalized with the illness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.