Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
Edgar (Patient Zero) Hernandez
In April, Edgar Hernandez became the unfortunate face of the H1N1 virus pandemic after officials confirmed that the 4-year-old was the first human to be infected with the virus in Mexico. Dubbed "Patient Zero" by the media, the kindergartner hails from La Gloria, a rural town that sits a few miles from an industrial pig farm. Reports of an ominous-sounding "swine flu" led to a sharp drop in tourism to Mexico, but an official in Hernandez's hometown said the boy should be celebrated as the first person to survive the virus, even going so far as to suggest erecting a statue of the boy's likeness in La Gloria to attract tourists.