Mexican Officials Hope Early Swine Flu Case Can Yield Clues

Mexico – Edgar Hernandez is a playful five-year-old with spiky black hair and a Cheshire cat grin. He also happens to be the earliest known victim – so far – of the swine flu that is spreading across Mexico, the U.S., and beyond.

Edgar's mysterious case is at the center of a search in Mexico to find out how the epidemic, which has now spread to seven countries, began.

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Edgar Hernandez at his home in La Gloria village, Veracruz state, Mexico.
Edgar, like many residents of la Gloria, got sick in late March or early April, running a high fever and complaining of a headache and pains, according to his mother Maria del Carmen Hernandez. But after a quick visit to the doctor and some pain pills, he recovered.

During the town's flu outbreak, health officials tested residents and concluded they had ordinary influenza. Some of those samples were saved and sent to Mexico City. Once the outbreak of swine flu was confirmed in other parts of the country, Mexico sent the samples from La Gloria to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing. The samples came back negative, except for the one that belonged to Edgar.

Now, Edgar is an active boy with a round face who likes practical jokes. When a group of reporters gathered around his small house in this village on Tuesday, he coughed and grabbed his throat, looking up to see the reaction. Asked how he was feeling, he said: "Bad, very bad"-- prompting his mother to chide him: "Edgar, stop it."

Late Tuesday, the Mexican government said there are 159 suspected swine flu deaths in the country. Seven of the deaths are confirmed to be a result of the virus. Officials have confirmed 26 cases of the virus among some 2,498 people treated with severe pneumonia since outbreak began.

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Mexican officials hope Edgar's case can help piece together the epidemic's early days. But so far, his case is raising more questions. While other villagers also got bad colds at roughly the same time as Edgar, he appears to be the only one in the area who contracted the deadly swine flu. Adding to the mystery, no one else in the family got swine flu, though Edgar sleeps in the same bed with his three-year-old baby brother and his parents.

"We just don't know how he got sick. Maybe it was a genetic accident of some kind," said Orlando Oscanga, a doctor who works for the state government and oversees public health issues in the municipality where Edgar lives.

Some residents of La Gloria blame the epidemic on a nearby pig farm. Granjas Carroll, among the country's biggest pig producers, is a joint venture between Mexican firm Agroindustrias Unidas de Mexico SA and the Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc.

Since mid-March, La Gloria residents have complained that pig waste was tainting their water and giving them respiratory problems. They said that more than half the town's 3,000 residents had the flu due to the farm. In early April, they held a protest, holding signs decrying the pig farm.

Smithfield's president and chief operating officer, C. Larry Pope, said in an interview that the company routinely tests its swine herds for any instances of various bacteria and disease, including influenza. So far, Mr. Pope said, "this variant has never presented itself in any of our herds" in any country where the company is present, including Mexico. He said that "we know of no pigs that are sick, no people on those farms that are sick and no people in our plants" who are sick.

Mr. Pope said the current influenza strain that is spreading between humans has no connection to hogs. "This is not a swine issue," he said. "This is a human-to-human issue." Mexican officials are testing the hogs.

Smithfield has been expanding its production into foreign markets for the past decade in an attempt to take advantage of rising meat consumption abroad. The company entered Mexico in 1999 and has two hog farms here, including the one near La Gloria. The company sends most of its hogs to processing plants in the Mexico City area, not owned by Smithfield, which produce meat for consumption mainly in Mexico.

Smithfield's entrance into new markets has often sparked consternation by local health and environmental activists, partly because of its size and partly out of concern that Smithfield might introduce farming practices that could be detrimental to the local environment. For example, the practice of disposing hog waste in large lagoons, which is common practice among larger hog operations, has been linked to water pollution and is coming under increasing pressure in the U.S. and abroad.

A nearby lagoon filled with pig waste is the focus of complaints from residents of La Gloria, who say the stench is overwhelming at times. Edgar's mother says the pig farm also creates a problem of flies, and wants authorities to do something about it.

Smithfield executives say the company has a longstanding dispute with some members of the La Gloria community regarding the sites of its hog farms. A few years ago the company first approached the community with the idea of building a facility closer to the city of La Gloria. Immediately there was a public backlash and some community members protested, blocked roads and even hijacked a company truck with an employee inside, says Victor Ochoa, director of Granjas Carroll. Smithfield put the plant further away in an attempt to alleviate some concerns. Still, some community members have become more "aggressive" against Smithfield, breaking into the facilities to take photographs, among other things, Mr. Ochoa said.

For now, Edgar is enjoying his newfound fame, and La Gloria is hoping that some good will come from the attention. The state governor visited Edgar on Monday and brought him a soccer ball and jersey. On Tuesday, the governor's office donated a new ambulance to the town, which is also slated to get a new health clinic. link....