42-year-old Kane Co. resident dies from swine flu

Kane County Health Department officials reported the death of a 42-year-old man from complications related to swine flu Thursday morning. It was the third recorded death related to the virus in Illinois in less than a week. The department would not provide any other identification about the man other than his status as a Kane County resident and the fact that he had underlying chronic medical conditions in addition to the swine flu virus.

The man's death is the first swine flu fatality outside of Cook County. A female from Northwest suburban Cook County died from swine flu complications Wednesday. The first report of a swine flu death in Illinois, a Chicago man, came on Monday.

Illinois had 1,002 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu spread through 19 different counties as of Thursday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Kane County had 35 total cases, two more than the state had listed for them.

"Our heartfelt sympathies go out to this family," said Kane County Health Department Executive Director Paul Kuehnert in a written statement. "With the case numbers rising across the state and the country, it's tragic but not unexpected that we would see this happening in our county. We know the virus is in our community, and we all need to take steps to protect ourselves and our families. People with chronic medical conditions need to take special care to protect themselves from influenza."

Such preventive actions include frequent washing of hands, avoiding contact with people who have the flu and refraining from touching your eyes, nose or mouth.