Wait a min.....what? I thought it was originally from Mexico. Ok.....time for some research.
This is what I found.........
In May 1999, a story titled "Disease detectives untangle mystery of mutant flu virus" reported that the 1998 bug -- a pig virus "wrapped in a shell of human proteins" -- was isolated by a state government veterinary lab. The virus was discovered in August 1998 at a 2,400-sow breeding farm owned by Newton Grove, N.C.-based Hog Slat Inc., a leading builder of factory-style hog farms. The virus spread among pregnant sows causing them to abort their litters. The virus then spread to pigs in Texas, Iowa and Minnesota -- putting epidemiologists on alert about the new viral strain and the potential for a human outbreak.
Hog Slat Inc. is also one of Sampson County's largest employers -- as is Smithfield Foods, the Virginia-based corporation that owns numerous hog farms near the Mexican community where the earliest case of the swine flu was identified.
Hmmm.......now I realize how easy it is for news reports to blame Mexico even though it really originated in pig factory farms in North Carolina. If you plan on eating a pig in the future make sure it's from a family run farm where you can see the pigs living conditions. This is just another reason that makes it easier for me to stay away from meat.
For more information:
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/05/swine-flu-genes-traced-to-north-carolina-hog-farm.html
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/swineflufarm/#
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/28/swine-flu-intensive-farming-caroline-lucas
http://www.riverlaw.us/swineflu.html
http://www.indyweek.com/triangulator/archives/2009/04/27/smithfield-foods-farms-in-mexican-state-where-swine-flu-outbreak-began
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