SPRINGFIELD, IL – Dr. John R. Lumpkin, state public health director, today announced 30 additional cases of West Nile disease, including two deaths, have been identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from blood and spinal fluid samples submitted last year to the federal agency.

With the confirmation of these new cases, Dr. Lumpkin said the number of Illinoisans who contracted the mosquito-borne disease in 2002 has now climbed to 836 and the total number of deaths attributed to West Nile has risen to 55.

The most recent deaths were an 89-year-old man from Edgar County, who died Sept. 19, and an 84-year-old man from Madison County, who died Sept. 11.

The cases announced today reported symptoms between Aug. 14 and Sept. 30. They include eight from Chicago; 11 from suburban Cook County; two each from DuPage, Lake and Madison counties; and one each from Edgar, Cumberland, Sangamon, Shelby and St. Clair counties.

Blood and spinal fluid specimens were submitted to the CDC last year for more sophisticated testing after initial tests for West Nile disease were inconclusive at the Department's laboratory or private laboratories. Additional cases of the disease are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks as CDC completes a backlog of about 40 samples from Illinois.

Cold weather in late October ended the threat of West Nile disease in Illinois last year. The latest onset of illness in the state was mid-October.

Besides the two deaths reported today, the state's other fatalities were from Chicago (14), suburban Cook County (18), DuPage County (3), Fulton County (3), Macon County (2), Sangamon County (3), and one each from Effingham, Jackson, Jefferson, Kane, Kendall, Knox, Lake, Madison, Moultrie and White counties.

More than 3,900 cases of West Nile disease and 256 deaths have been recorded in the U.S. for 2002 with Illinois reporting the highest number of cases and deaths.

A complete listing of the positive humans, birds, mosquito batches and horses identified so far this year in Illinois, by county, is available on the Department's Web site at www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/wnv.htm.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As part of a review of the more than 800 positive West Nile diseases cases reported in Illinois, CDC scientists have determined that seven cases from suburban Cook County originally reported as positive by the Department's laboratory were negative. The total number of cases in this news release includes the reduction of these seven cases and the IDPH Web site has been updated to reflect the change.

The cases confirmed as negative by the CDC and the date previously reported by the Department as positive are: a 46-year-old man (Aug. 23); a 41-year-old woman (Aug. 23); a 55-year-old woman (Aug. 26); an 82-year-old man (Sept. 4); an 88-year-old woman (Sept. 12); a 37-year-old woman (Oct. 8) and an 80-year-old woman (Jan. 8, 2003).