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The flu virus has yet to strike New Mexico, but it's most certainly coming, experts say.

Flu season generally starts in the first week of December and lasts into March, peaking in January and February.

And while the most recent report - for the week of Nov. 10 - shows no flu activity in the state, surrounding states, including Texas, Utah, Colorado and Nevada, are starting to see sporadic cases, said Chris Minnick, a spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Health.

"We'll start seeing flu here in New Mexico soon," Minnick said.

The supply of flu shots is plentiful this year, and there's still time to get one before the season takes hold, Minnick said.

By January, it will probably be too late to get much benefit, he added.

"We're urging everybody to get a shot," Minnick said.

This year, the state ordered 70,000 adult doses and 98,000 children's doses of the vaccine, but that's just the backup system for those who haven't gotten them through their health care provider, officials say.

In Albuquerque, Presbyterian Healthcare Services ordered 83,000 vaccine doses, and Lovelace Health System and the University of New Mexico Hospital each ordered 30,000 doses, representatives from those groups said.

And so far, shot clinics have been going well, officials say.

"We have 2,300 shots left, but the supply is plentiful," said Sam Giammo, a spokesman for UNM Hospital. "If we need more, we can get more."

Presbyterian has distributed about 75 percent of its doses, said Elizabeth Brophy, a spokeswoman.

And Lovelace has about 6,000 doses left, which indicates more people are getting flu shots this year than have in the past, said Chris Cervini, a spokesman.

"That's a really good take-up rate, because we actually purchased 30 percent more doses than we did last year," Cervini said.

Clinics are still available in Albuquerque at UNM Hospital through Friday, and people can also get them from their health care provider.

A list of clinics and other New Mexico flu information is available online at health.state.nm.us/flu.