Everyone Wants 5-Year-Old Swine Flu Survivor Édgar Hernández’s Urine

Edgar Hernandez of La Gloria, Mexico is the young boy who got sick with swine flu, survived it, and now has a statue erected in his honor. Kid’s pretty much Master of the Known Universe for the simple act of Not Dying, and many in his community would like nothing more than a piece of that action. 

Edgar, known worldwide as “Patient Zero,” has been hounded by fans who follow him into bathrooms in order to steal his urine, believing that it has special healing powers. Of course, what these people fail to recognize is that Edgar was able to fight off the virus because he had been vaccinated in time. (By a wizard.)

Veracruz governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán has declared the city of La Gloria a tourist destination thanks to its unique status as the place where a deadly pandemic is thought to have begun when a pig sharted into its own feed. He made sure to mention that “even” La Gloria’s official website has had a huge influx of visitors recently. (For the record, a search of “La Gloria” did not bring up anything resembling an official site. It did inform us, however, where to buy Cuban cigars and that pig flu originated in a small town in Mexico.) He mentioned that it wasn’t known for sure that La Gloria is where the illness originated.

Amidst all the celebration of urine-harvesting, little Edgar’s father, also named Edgar, was quick to point out that as a result of the pandemic, coupled with a worldwide economic crisis, the town is starving for jobs. He also says publicity from his son’s recovery is pretty much ruining their lives. Says Edgar, Sr:

We’re so grateful for the scholarship the government gave our son and we’re happy that he has a statue, but, really, his illness hasn’t brought us anything positive. We’re now the butt of jokes for no reason other than my son appeared in the news all over the world. People look down on us.

We must admit we find it odd that Herrera would try to brand this particular city as a prime tourist spot and exploit this preschooler’s recovery to try and drum up tourists’ dollars. But. Maybe this will eventually lead to more jobs?

Virus que no mata, engorda: Herrera [La Jornada]