While the search for “pig zero” continues, there is still uncertainty about whether H1N1 (swine flu) was ever in a pig. There is some buzz that the outbreak might be traced to contamination from pig breeding farms polluting the atmosphere and local water bodies of what seems to be the source town of La Gloria, Mexico.

As world health agencies work to reduce transmission and severity of the illness, it will be equally important to follow the trail back to the beginning. Not just to the village or the farm or the pig. But what created the conditions that led to the virus (e.g., a suspect farm that raises nearly 1 million hogs per year)? Why were we vulnerable to its spread? And what unraveling might the alternative choices entail if we are to create a different scenario in the future?