PhotoBlog

Jan

2013

4:50pm, EST

Children line up for flu treatment in Beijing as smog may worsen health issues

AFP - Getty Images

Parents watch over their children under a row of intravenous drips at a hospital for flu treatment in Beijing on Jan. 13.

AFP - Getty Images

Nurses attend to a young child in a hospital for flu treatment in Beijing on Jan. 13.

According to the Global Times, heavy pollution like the smog that hit Beijing this past weekend could exacerbate the flu season in China, experts say. The pollutants lower residents’ ability to combat the flu and the virus is more likely to remain in the air after an infected person sneezes.

Public anger in China over dangerous levels of air pollution spread on Jan. 14 as state media editorials questioned official transparency and the nation's breakneck development.

-- Agence France-Presse

AFP - Getty Images

Nurses attend to a baby in a hospital for flu treatment in Beijing on Jan. 13.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

Jul

2012

11:49pm, EDT

Chickens quarantined during bird flu outbreak in Mexico

Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

An employee sprays a farm under quarantine following a bird flu outbreak in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State, Mexico on Wednesday. Mexican government declared a national animal health emergency on Monday in the face of an aggressive bird flu epidemic that has infected nearly 1.7 million poultry. The emergency declaration included provisions for quarantine, slaughter, vaccination, and the destruction of infected products.

Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

Chickens remain in their cages in a farm under quarantine in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State, Mexico.

Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, & Nutrition veterinarian Adolfo Ortiz works in a mobile laboratory in Guadalajara.

Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

View of a sanitary checkpoint (including cardboard cutout of a flag-waver) installed by the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, & Nutrition following a bird flu outbreak in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State.

Reuters reports that an outbreak of avian flu has killed at least 870,000 poultry birds in Mexico:

"The virus has never been out of control. It is localized in two places in Jalisco and up until now there is no evidence that it is anywhere else," the official said, asking not be named.

As a cautionary measure, authorities declared a national animal health emergency on Monday to help prevent the disease's spread to other parts of Mexico or farther. The ministry has ordered vaccinations from Asia and is also developing their own drugs domestically to combat the flu.

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