The Sad Story of Patient Zero

If this Reuters story is correct, the first person to die of the new (H1N1) Mexican swine flu was treated very poorly, or not at all, for nine days in early April.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The 39-year-old woman who was the first to die in Mexico's swine flu epidemic spent the last eight days of her life going from clinic to clinic to find out what was wrong with her but doctors were baffled.

The woman, from the southern state of Oaxaca, died shortly after being admitted to hospital as an emergency case. Experts only identified the virus that killed her 10 days later. [SNIP]

The woman, who worked as a census taker in the city of Oaxaca, became ill with what was she thought was a severe case of pneumonia on April 4 but was not admitted to hospital until April 12.

"She went to several private clinics where she was given various diagnoses and various treatments. However, her condition worsened and she was taken to the hospital by emergency services on the 12th and the next day she died," Miguel Angel Lezana, Mexico's chief epidemiologist, told reporters.

Authorities are beginning to believe the flu did not originate on a Mexican pig farm.

Hindsight is 20-20 but you have to wonder how many people were infected because no one thought she was serious enough to warrant earlier hospitalization.