A/H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Virus 'Patient Zero' Found in Mexico [Edited]

July 28, 2009 — 

The world's 1st known A/H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Virus victim was a 6-month-old baby girl in northern Mexico who had no known contact with pig farms, the head of a laboratory studying the virus said on Thursday [23 Jul 2009].

"It's a 6-month-old baby girl from San Luis Potosi who is alive" said Celia Alpuche of the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference (INDRE) in Mexico City. The little girl 1st showed symptoms of the new strain of the influenza A(H1N1) virus on [24 Feb 2009], she said.

International attention has focused on 2 possible 'patient zeros,' including a 5-year-old boy who lived near a pig farm in eastern Mexico and a woman from Oaxaca, in the southeast, after the government 1st raised the A(H1N1) alert 3 months ago. Both had contracted the virus, which has now killed more than 700 people worldwide, in April [2009].

But studies carried out on a backlog of samples show that a 1st handful of recorded cases appeared in March [2009] in central and northern Mexico, before any showed up further south, said Ms Alpuche.

"We have other positive samples in March from Baja California (northwest), San Luis Potosi and Mexico City (centre)," Ms Alpuche said, referring to results discovered around one month ago. "It's complicated to say where it originated but the earlier samples are not from rural areas, that's to say areas with farms (or) pigs," she added.

Mexico's A(H1N1) death toll now stands at 138, with almost 14 800 recorded cases, and the country has recently seen an upsurge of cases in the impoverished southeast.

Source: The Times Online (UK)