The state Department of Public Health announced nine new cases of West Nile disease Monday, including a 70-year-old suburban Cook County woman who has died.
The woman died Sept. 26 of the neuroinvasive form of the disease, the Health Department said.
The eight other people who have been diagnosed with West Nile range in age from 15 to 89. Two are from Chicago, two from suburban Cook County, two from Kane County and one each from DuPage and Lake Counties.
This year, 197 people have been diagnosed with West Nile in Illinois, state officials said. The disease killed five people this summer.
In 2002 Illinois led the nation with 884 cases and 67 deaths. It has the third-highest number of cases in the U.S. this year.
West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus from feeding on an infected bird.
