‘Patient Zero’ found near fetid Smithfield hog factory in Veracruz, Mexico
I’ve been watching this story develop for a while and waited to pass it along until the coverage was more complete. HuffingtonPost has a comprehensive review that is well worth your attention. The hypothesis argues that the epidemic began with swarms of flies feeding on the fetid Smithfield factory farm manure discharges who invaded the surrounding populated areas. If true, it is surely a notable manifestation of Ross Perot’s gigantic sucking sound, its apex a runaway pork plant fouling the global atmosphere in a vast and spreading vortex. As in the rest of the nation, all schools here in Cancun are now closed and many public facilities and events have been canceled. Some feel that authorities are overreacting in an excess of caution, and that very few cases of actual swine flu have been identified, given the population of Mexico City. Let’s hope they are right.
“Patient Zero” Identified in Mexican Flu Outbreak?
By David Kirby
Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova announced Monday evening that officials have identified who they believe to be the earliest known case of the swine flu outbreak: A four-year-old boy in the village of La Gloria, Veracruz, near the huge Granjas Carroll hog operation, which is co-owned by Smithfield Foods of Virginia. But Mexican hog industry leaders and the Governor of Veracruz State argued that the virus originated in China — and passed through the United States before reaching Mexico.
“Cordova said tests now show that a 4-year-old boy contracted the disease at least two weeks earlier in neighboring Veracruz state, where a community has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm,” the AP says. “The farm is run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a joint venture 50 percent owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc.”
Company officials said there were no “clinical signs or symptoms” of swine influenza in their vast herds anywhere in Mexico, “But local residents are convinced they were sickened by air and water contamination from pig waste,” AP says. “There was a widespread outbreak of a particularly powerful respiratory disease in the area early April, and some people reported being sick as early as February. Local health workers intervened in early April, sealing off the town of La Gloria and spraying to kill off flies they said were swarming through their homes.”
