. >> reporter: how sick was emersyn? >> she was really sick. i would say the sickest that she has ever been in her entire life. >> reporter: emersyn is six years old. she contracted the virus despite getting a flu shot. >> i think she would have been a lot sicker had we not gotten that flu vaccine. >> reporter: emersyn is better but still home because her elementary school closed this week after more than 20% of its students came down with the flu. dr. bryant had a message for families: it's not too late for a flu shot. >> we tend to focus on flu as a respiratory viral illness, but some parents don't realize that it can cause seizures, even rarely an inflammation of the brain, and pediatricians are reporting cases of that across the u.s. >> reporter: here in south bend, indiana, home of the fighting irish, medical staff here at the beacon health system that told us that 15% of the people hospitalized right now, children and adults, are fighting some type of respiratory infection. >> maurice: janet, as parents, we have all been there, in one way