Health officials say that new cases of West Nile Virus have been confirmed in Will County in Illinois, the first detection of the disease in that county so far this year and indication the virus is spreading.

Authorities confirmed that a batch of mosquitoes tested positive for the virus in Will County, which is located near Chicago, and is the latest a in a string of confirmations in the state that have included Cook, Kane, and DuPage counties, according to a CLTV report.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 44 human cases of West Nile Virus in the state last year, and it appears there will be yet another year of outbreaks for the virus, which has become a mainstay in the United States during the summer months as mosquitoes flourish.

West Nile Virus typically doesn’t cause any symptoms at all when mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans through a bite, but about 20 percent do experience fever, headaches, and body aches — and in the most severe cases, people can come down with meningitis or encephalitis. In rare cases, people can die from the disease.

West Nile Virus is exclusively a mosquito-born illness that is transmitted into the bloodstream of humans when they are bitten, and therefore risk of contracting the virus can be dramatically reduced simply by consistent use of insect repellant or by wearing protective clothing outdoors.

WNV infection doesn’t have any known treatments, but since cases are usually mild, that hasn’t been necessary. However, in rare cases — less than 1 percent — it can result in severe complications, so it is prudent for individuals to take steps to avoid infection.

The West Nile Virus was first reported in Uganda in East Africa back in 1937 and hadn’t made much of an impact until the mid-1990s, when there were two major outbreaks two years apart, one in Algeria and one in Romania. The first case in the United States was in New York City in 1999.