Workers affected by a neurological disorder contracted while extracting pig brains at Quality Pork Processors demonstrated outside the facility Saturday afternoon.

At least 18 former and current workers have been diagnosed with progressive inflammatory neuropathy (PIN), “an illness that has kind of defied explanation,” said Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Daniel Lachance last April. Symptoms include pain, weakness, numbness, tingling and fatigue.

Workers reportedly became infected between November 2006 and November 2007 while working on or around the line called the “head table.” QPP was one of three facilities known to use compressors to blast out pigs’ brains for processing. Workers at two hog processing facilities in Nebraska and Indiana that also use the compressors were also diagnosed with PIN. Demonstrators from the immigrant rights group Centro Campesino as well as affected workers and their families held picket signs outside the gates of QPP Saturday demanding answers to why the hog processor has allegedly denied workers’ medical restrictions and laid affected workers off. They are also demanding QPP process workers’ compensation claims.

“People are scared,” said 38-year-old Roberto Olmedo-Hernandez, who worked until March on a production line that opened up pigs’ stomachs. Now, since his diagnosis, he works in the laundry room, where he fights intense fatigue, headaches and foot pain on a daily basis.

The Mexican-born father of three said doctors at Mayo Clinic and Austin Medical Center don’t know how to help him, and his symptoms are getting worse. He said his union, Local 9, has not been of any help.

“They don’t want to take my case,” he said of the doctors. “I’ve been sick since March, and nobody is asking me how I am. They know I’m sick.”

Olmedo-Hernandez said he believes QPP is taking advantage of workers’ citizenship status.

“They see me — I’m sick, sometimes I’m sleepy,” he said. “I’m working now because I don’t have a choice.

“My life is not normal now,” he said. “I’m not scared for myself now, but my kids, my wife. My kids are asking me if I’m going to die.”

Another former worker, a 22-year-old female who preferred to remain anonymous, said she has been sick for two years. The only medication doctors can prescribe is steroids, which they claim may have secondary complications.

“They don’t know how many years until I have medication,” she said.

Victor Contreras, executive director of Centro Campesino, said his organization, which has an office in Austin, has been working with seven QPP employees diagnosed with PIN. He alleged Saturday that QPP CEO Kelly Wadding assured them that “everything was under control.”

“It’s a very big problem,” Contreras said.

Wadding could not be reached for comment Saturday.