BLOOMINGTON - Cold and flu season is taking its toll on school attendance. Several school nurses said Monday that absenteeism has increased in the past week as Central Illinois children battle a variety of maladies.

Among the sicknesses reported were upper respiratory infections, pink eye, strep and even some diagnosed cases of influenza.

"It's up a lot," school nurse Susy Marcum said of the number of kids out with illness. As for the kinds of sicknesses, "there's quite a variety," said Marcum, nurse at Unit 5's Grove and Prairieland elementary schools in Normal.

Whether the numbers are typical for February or are slightly higher vary with each school, school nurses said.

Marcum said children are out with upper respiratory infections, including colds; pink eye, an infection in the eye; stomach flu, including vomiting and diarrhea; strep throat, a bacterial infection that results in a sore throat and fever without a cough or runny nose; and influenza, which causes high fever, body aches, chills and fatigue.

At Prairieland, about 70 of 575 students were absent on Thursday and Friday and more than 50 were sick on Monday. Typically, during cold and flu season, 30 to 40 students would be absent, she said.

At Grove, 40 to 50 of 650 students have been absent for each of the past several school days, which is typical for this time of year, Marcum said.

At District 87's Irving and Sheridan schools in Bloomington, most of the sick students have post-nasal drip with congestion, a low-grade fever and a mucus-caused cough, school nurse Holly Beoletto said.

Some of the coughing is frequent and harsh, to the point that some children throw up, she said.

Sheridan, with 400 students, has been averaging 40 students absent, Beoletto said. Irving, with 360 students, has averaged 25 to 30 kids absent.

"These are normally healthy kids that I do not normally see," Beoletto said.

Bonnie Mitchell, school nurse for Tri-Valley High School, Middle School and Elementary School in Downs, is seeing students with respiratory illnesses (colds, runny nose and cough) and influenza. Of 1,100 students, about 30 to 40 have been absent for the past week, compared with 15 to 20 on a typical winter day.