La Gloria – crucible of swine flu?

La Gloria is home to Edgar Hernández Hernández, a five-year-old boy who is the earliest recorded survivor of swine of flu identified in Mexico so far. Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

La Gloria village in Veracruz, Mexico, where the new strain of swine flu was first detected. Photograph: Saul Ramirez/EPA

'Welcome to La Gloria'. The village is in the area of a huge pig farm belonging to the multinational company Smithfield Foods Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

A farmer drives his cart through the centre of the village Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

People line up to to get medical attention in La Gloria, Mexico. Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova downplayed claims Tuesday that the swine flu epidemic could have started in La Gloria, noting that of 35 mucous samples taken from respiratory patients there, only one has came back positive, even though in March about 450 people were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections and sent home with antibiotics and surgical masks. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

A youth wearing a face mask stands outside the home of a child who survived the swine flu in La Gloria village in Mexico's Veracruz state. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

A federal health authority stencil: 'Protect your children from the cold – wrap them up well' Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

A man herds a flock of sheep and goats along a street in La Gloria, Mexico Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

A tractor drives through La Gloria Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

Many people in La Gloria are unwilling to talk to the press for fear that they may suffer retaliation if they voice their suspicions about the pig farm there Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

A US cameraman takes a picture of Edgar (wearing red trousers), with his father and younger brother. The five-year-old made a complete recovery from the illness Photograph: Jo Tuckman/guardian.co.uk

Edgar stands beside his father and younger brother outside the family home Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

Edgar Hernandez, right, aged 4, who survived the swine flu, stands in his home in La Gloria village in Mexico's Veracruz state. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

A woman stands outside the home of a child who survived the swine flu in Mexico's Veracruz state. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Goats on the road are a common sight Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

The cemetery. Two babies died of pneumonia in February and March 2009 just before the outbreak of swine flu Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

Bertha Crisóstomo, a community leader and activist, says many people in the village fell ill with similar symptoms around 21 March. Like many people in the village, she suspects that the industrial pig farms in the area, known as Granjas Carroll and owned by the Virginia-based company Smithfield, may be to blame Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

Local farmers leave a sports centre after a community meeting in La Gloria village in Mexico's Veracruz state. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Victor Calderon, General Director of pig farms run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, speaks to the press outside the home of a child who survived swine flu in La Gloria village. Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

The cactus-lined road that leads to the pig farm Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

The module of the Granjas Carroll pig farm that is nearest to La Gloria. The tank of pig waste emits a fetid odour Photograph: Jo Tuckman /guardian.co.uk

An employee works on a farm run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico on the outskirts of Xicaltepec in Mexico's Veracruz state. Mexico's agriculture department said on Monday that its inspectors found no sign of swine flu among pigs around the farm in Veracruz and no infected pigs have been found anywhere in Mexico Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Pigs on a farm run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico on the outskirts of Xicaltepec in Mexico's Veracruz state Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Victor Calderon, the general director of Granjas Carroll de Mexico, stands next to pigs at one of the company's farms on the outskirts of Xicaltepec in Mexico's Veracruz state Photograph: Alexandre Meneghini/AP

Granjas Carroll of Mexico, in Perote, Veracruz, Mexico. Veratect Corporation, a US biosurveillance consultancy firm, said they identified the first case of swine flu virus on 2 April in the Mexican town of Perote in Veracruz Photograph: Saul Ramirez/EPA