Gundersen Lutheran began limiting visitors to its medical center Wednesday to prevent the spread of influenza to patients.

Those age 18 and younger are barred from visiting unless they are immediate family members, such as a child or sibling of a patient.

"We're focusing on visitors age 18 or younger because the majority of H1N1 infections we've seen are in this age group," said Bridget Pfaff, clinical manager of infection control at Gundersen Lutheran.

People of any age with flu-like symptoms - fever, headache, extreme fatigue, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea - also are restricted from seeing patients.

Franciscan Skemp officials said they will discuss today whether to impose further visitation restriction. People with flu symptoms obviously should not visit patients, they said.

Schools throughout the area have been hit hard by the H1N1 virus in recent weeks, Pfaff said, with hundreds of students out with reported flu-like symptoms.

Onalaska public schools continue to see a number of absences despite having a four-day weekend, said Andi Van Sickle, a district nurse.

The district's middle school had the most empty seats with 18.8 percent, or 120 out with flu-like symptoms, Van Sickle said. The high school had 7.8 percent absent, a sharp decrease from the 30 percent who reported being ill Friday.

Absences due to illness at Onalaska's elementary schools included 11.8 percent out at Eagle Bluff; 14.7 percent out at Irving Pertzsch; and 8.7 percent out at Northern Hills.

The number of sick students absent from Central High School declined Wednesday to about 22 percent, compared with 25 percent the day before, said Lynda Narish Johnson, school nurse coordinator for La Crosse schools. Schools district-wide reported about 10 percent of students absent, which Narish Johnson said "would not be unusual for influenza season for the whole district."

Longfellow Middle School did see the number of ill students increase Wednesday, with 17 percent out.