DENVER -- The Pueblo City-County Health Department confirmed Wednesday that two elderly women, ages 83 and 84, have died from West Nile virus in Pueblo. The news came at the same time officials confirmed a 68-year-old woman died from West Nile virus Saturday at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.

WEST NILE VIRUS Interactive: All About West Nile Overview: Learn About Disease Protection: Insecticide Tips More: Virus In Horses RESOURCES Encyclopedia: West Nile Defined Facts: CDC | Q&A Maps: Cases By State | Cases By County Phone CDC Hot Line: (888) 246-2675

A 77-year-old Greeley woman died from the virus Friday.

So far, more than 111 cases of West Nile virus have been confirmed in Colorado this summer, the most reported by any state. Larimer County confirmed 14 new cases just Wednesday.

Colorado is not the first state to record deaths from the virus this summer. A 68-year-old man and an85-year-old woman, both from Texas, and an Alabama woman in her 80s have already died.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedon its Web site that Colorado has the most human West Nile cases ofany state and more than a third of the country's total.

In humans, the disease can cause flulike symptoms and swellingof the brain that can be fatal. Most people bitten by an infectedmosquito do not become ill.

Colorado health officials detected 13 cases in humans last year.None were fatal. The virus also was found in 380 horses, 138 birds,one cat and a sheep.

West Nile virus first emerged in New York in 1999 and killed seven people. It continued to spread westward, finally hitting the Rocky Mountain states last year and killing 284 people nationwide. Put another way, one out of every 18 people who tested positive for the virus died last year.