Confirmed cases of the flu in North Dakota have jumped 72% over the past week, with the North Dakota Department of Health reporting Wednesday that 1,077 flu cases had been reported statewide, up from 625 just last week.
Outbreaks have been reported in long-term care and assisted living facilities, and influenza surveillance coordinator Lindsey VanderBusch says the high number of flu cases is happening earlier in the flu season than usual.
Crookston teacher, Judy Schoeneberger is just getting over a very bad case of it.
Judy Schoeneberger, Crookston: "It wasn't fun. It was awful."
Schoeneberger says it knocked her out of commission for 5 days. She says it got so bad that at one point, she passed out and bumped her head on the floor.
Judy Schoeneberger: "A lot of nausea."
Reporter: "You're husband found you passed out on the floor?"
Schoeneberger: "He was kind of... yes, let's put it that way."
Reporter: "And you bumped your head pretty good?"
Schoeneberger: "Just a little bit. Just a little black and blue mark…ha."
A new web site called FluNearYou.org lets you track flu in your own family, along with your neighbors; the red you can see there today shows the high concentration of flu cases in the Valley over the past week.
April Grunhovd, Riverview Health: "We've been seeing a huge increase in the central and Metro area. Over the weekend we saw about a 30-percent patient load with flu like symptoms… fever, cough, sore throat."
And Grunhovd says with school back in session and more and more people gathered in tight quarters, you can expect the number of flu cases to keep rising.
Remember, officials say it's still not too late to get -- and benefit from -- a flu shot.
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