Source: Xinhua

04-28-2009 11:19

MEXICO CITY, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A pork farming area in Mexico's eastern coast state of Veracruz might be the source of the swine flu strain that has killed 149 people in the country, Mexican media reported Monday.

Local media and epidemic monitoring company Vertect identify Perote, a town in Veracruz and home to a large pig farm, as the first site of any unusual influenza activity in Mexico.

The Veracruz state government rejected the accusations, saying residents in Perote often suffer from respiratory illnesses because the town is located in a mountainous area, where temperatures vary widely.

"We only have a case tested positive for the H1N1 virus, a boy of five years eight months and he is now safe," said a government official, adding that an outbreak had been detected elsewhere around April 8, while the boy's case was "around mid-April".

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