AP-Swine Flu-Mexico-Ground Zero?

Mexican residents say swine flu may have started at local farms

.

LA GLORIA, Mexico (AP) – Residents of a rural Mexican town

believe their community may be ground zero for the swine flu

epidemic, though authorities deny it.

The town in the Veracruz mountains is home to Mexico’s earliest

confirmed case of the deadly new strain. A 4-year-old boy is among

more than 450 residents who’ve reported respiratory problems and

unusually strong flu symptoms as far back as February.

The residents blame contamination by pig waste spread into the

air and water from nearby breeding farms. Local health workers

intervened in early April, sealing off the town and spraying to

kill flies people said were swarming around their homes.

Residents say about half the town’s residents work in Mexico

City and could easily have easily spread the virus.

Some of the area’s farms are co-owned by Virginia-based

Smithfield Foods. A Smithfield spokeswoman says the company has

found no clinical signs or symptoms of the flu in its swine herd or

its employees in Mexico.

.

(04/27/09)

Edgar Hernandez, 4, right, who according to Veracruz state

Governor Miguel Herrera survived the swine flu, stands in his home

in La Gloria village in Mexico’s Veracruz state, Monday, April 27,

2009. A fatal strain of swine flu has been detected in Mexico while

the virus has been confirmed or suspected in at least a half-dozen

other countries.

.

(04/27/09)

Margarita Hernandez, who claims to have recovered from swine

flu, protests against health workers while waiting for state

Governor Miguel Herrera to arrive at the home of a boy who also

survived swine flu in La Gloria village in Mexico’s Veracruz state,

Monday, April 27, 2009. A fatal strain of swine flu has been

detected in Mexico while the virus has been confirmed or suspected

in at least a half-dozen other countries.

.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-04-28-09 1604EDT