Where did the A (H1N1) flu come from? Residents of the Mexican town where the first case was diagnosed say that a US-owned factory just a few miles down the road, which produces 950,000 pigs a year, is to blame. A blogger from the area went to the factory to look into the conditions.

Only a week after the deadly virus hit the headlines, what we first knew as swine flu, and is now called influenza A (H1N1), remains quite some mystery to both scientists and the public. Where this pig/ bird/ human flu super virus came from remains unknown. But what we do know, is that around a month ago, a five-year-old boy, Edgar Hernandez, fell ill with what has now been diagnosed as the A (H1N1) virus, and is thought to be the first known victim. The boy survived, but following his illness, around 800 people in his tiny town, La Gloria, southwest Mexico, also fell ill with a mysterious flu. What we also know, is that a few miles down the road lies "Granjas Carroll", an enormous hog producer, majority-owned by multinational Smithfield Foods, and the United States's biggest pork supplier. The factory has long been the target of protests by locals, who have complained of contamination for over half a decade. Now, they're making the link between the pollution which comes from the farm and the origins of influenza A (H1N1). They say that around half the townspeople work in Mexico City during the week, which is how the virus was transmitted to the capital. Smithfield, however, denies the link. The company says no pig in the factory has been diagnosed with the flu and therefore no infection can have emerged from it.