One unresolved question is to what degree does a country's development affects its ability to detect and respond to an emerging disease in a timely manner? Development may affect spending on healthcare infrastructure, and particularly, spending on the high cost, intensive public health surveillance needed during the early stages of a pandemic [11, 12, 13] . Socioeconomic factors will also likely affect individuals' abilities or desire to seek diagnosis or treatment, and a country's capacity to test and identify pathogens. Here, we analyze socio-economic and travel data to understand the initial spread of this virus. We focus on the early stages of the epidemic, when travel from Mexico was likely to be the dominant mode of viral spread. Finally, we examine poultry and swine trade data prior to the 2009 A/H1N1 pandemic to add to our understanding the processes that led to the emergence of this virus.