These circumstances are not exclusive to Asia, however. The Mexican state of Veracruz, for instance, provides similarly fertile conditions for the flu. Veracruz has a coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico is a developing country with a culinary tradition that heavily features pork.35 It was in Veracruz—where very few scientists were looking for the flu36—that the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 began.
