The first human case of West Nile virus in Illinois this year has been confirmed. A Chicago woman in her mid-60s became ill in mid-May, and lab tests show that she had contracted the mosquito-borne virus.
The diagnosis comes about a month earlier this year than the first human case detected in 2017. Last year a total of 90 human cases of West Nile were reported in Illinois… with eight resulting in deaths.
But state health officials say human cases of West Nile are routinely underreported.