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LA GLORIA, Mexico – Edgar Hernandez can rattle off the fierce flu symptoms he suffered a few weeks back like a boy far beyond his 5 years: His head was hot. He coughed until his belly and his throat were sore. He did not want to eat, which was strange for him, someone who gobbles up everything he can.
“I feel good now,” he said Tuesday, flashing a smile. But the government has identified Edgar as the first person in Mexico to have become infected with a strain of swine flu, a notoriety that makes his parents anxious and that could raise questions about how Mexican officials reacted – or failed to react – to the early stages of what might become a global epidemic.
Edgar was one of hundreds of people in La Gloria who came down with flulike symptoms in an outbreak that began in the middle of March. Local residents accuse public health officials of dismissing the outbreak at the time, reassuring them that it was nothing serious. Federal officials said they did respond quickly to the crisis, though only after the virus infected people in another part of the country, at least a week after Edgar developed symptoms.
One of the many unknowns about the fierce flu that struck Edgar is whether it could have set off more alarms early on, and whether it could have been contained if it had.
La Gloria may not, in the end, be found to be the source of anything. The village has many immigrants in the United States. Mexican epidemiologists say one theory is that someone who had been in the United States brought the virus back to the community. Even before Edgar fell ill, another person in San Diego may have been affected, said Miguel Angel Lezana, the director of the Centro Nacional de Vigilancia Epidemologia y Control de Enfermedades, Mexico’s top federal health authority.
Even now, Edgar’s mother, Maria del Carmen Hernandez, said she received conflicting accounts of the exact illness that kept her son in bed for three days. No one has explained what she should be doing to keep him and the rest of the family healthy, she said, signs that Mexico’s response effort may be spotty, especially in rural areas.
“Some people are saying my boy is to blame for everyone else in the country getting sick,” said Hernandez,
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