Patient Zero, a Four-Year-Old Boy?

Far from Mexico City, on the Gulf of Mexico, lies ground zero of the swine-flu outbreak that has killed at least 149 people. Authorities suspect that the never-before-seen virus was born on a pig farm called Granjas Carroll. Nearby, the swine-flu first infected a four-year-old boy. The, boy—who survived the virus—was initially thought to have a particularly bad case of the flu. Officials have begun tracking the march of the virus as it swept across all of Mexico, and have revealed that its first fatality was a door-to-door census taker who likely had contact with hundreds of people. Granjas Carroll denies its connection with the virus, saying that none of its workers have come down with the illness. Another rumor claims that an immigrant returning from work in the U.S. brought the virus with him, in turn unleashing it on the community. Meanwhile, the Mexican government has taken the unprecedented step of canceling all school though May 6.