A former Sandwich student died of H1N1 flu during the weekend.

DeKalb County Health Department Administrator Karen Grush said the victim was 16 years old and died Sunday at a hospital in Cook County, but was a resident of DeKalb County. Sandwich Community Schools Superintendent Rick Schmitt said in a letter posted Monday the teen attended Sandwich High School last year. The Health Department recommended Sandwich schools stay open.

The Health Department is investigating whether the former student had any underlying health condition that contributed to his or her death. Grush said such deaths often occur, but not exclusively, when underlying conditions exist that increase the risk. The Health Department has preliminary plans to provide an H1N1 flu vaccine clinic the first week of November in each DeKalb County school district, if sufficient

vaccine is on hand.

The most recent person in La Salle County to be diagnosed with H1N1 was a 7-week-old boy, who was hospitalized more than one week ago. All together this year in La Salle County, there have been four cases: the boy, two girls — ages 10 and nine months — and a 49-year-old woman. The one death from H1N1 this year in the county was that of an 18-year-old woman.

In Illinois as of Monday, there have been 20 deaths in 2009 attributed to H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu, six of which were people younger than 24. There now has been one death in DeKalb County.