Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a Smithfield CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) hog farm in Perote, Mexico (where the outbreak originated) raised and sold 950,000 hogs last year. That’s nearly a million hogs!
I’ve been following with huge interest the Swine Flu epidemic that originated in Mexico City and is now confirmed in the United States.
This is serious stuff, because this is not your ordinary flu bug – it’s a combination of pig (swine), bird (avian) and human viruses, of which we humans do not have a natural immunity for.
Reports are showing at least 1,400 people infected in Mexico and from 80-200 people dead.
Earlier today, the Obama administration declared a “public health emergency,” as U.S. health officials warned that further cases of swine flu are likely to emerge in the U.S.
Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano described the declaration as “standard operating procedure” to allow the federal and state governments easier access to flu tests and medication.
Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that over time “more severe” cases of disease are likely to surface. He said that officials so far have identified 20 cases in the U.S.