(AP) -- State health officials say three people have now died in South Carolina from the West Nile virus.
The Greenville News reported that the Department of Health and Environmental Control says it's the highest death toll in the state.
DHEC spokesman Jim Beasley says the agency began tracking West Nile virus in 2001. Beasley says the only other death was reported in Dillon County in 2005.
There have been 40 cases of the illness in South Carolina this year. Aiken County has had the most cases with eight. Richland County has had four cases. State officials say South Carolina usually has only about four cases annually.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been 183 deaths this year.
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