CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois health officials say a Cook County resident in their late 70s has died of West Nile virus in the first human case of the mosquito-borne disease reported in the state this year. The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that the person became ill at the beginning of August. It says laboratory testing at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed West Nile virus was a contributing factor in the death. West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a house mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird.
