Patient Zero of AIDS, Gaetan Dugas is considered to introduce AIDS to North America. The claim was made in 1987. It was Randy Shilts, a journalist of San Francisco. His bestseller, And the Band Played On. It is this book that cements Dugas as a monstrous degenerate. However, the concept of Patient Zero is now proved to be a myth. This is by the scientists in 2016. Find out the story here.
Patient Zero of AIDS: the story
Patient Zero of AIDS, Gaetan Dugas was a part of the LGBTQ community. He was a young and handsome male flight attendants.
However, in 1980 he was diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma. This is a rare skin disease. Moreover, back then it would become a mark of AIDS.
During the chemotherapy, Dugas agreed to be a part of a study. This study was about men who were suffering from AIDS.
In the information given to the researchers, he reveals that he has had about 750 sexual partners. Dugas became patient 57 of this CDC study.
It is because of this study that Dugas is Patient Zero of AIDS. Moreover, what is even more astonishing is that is because of a typo.
How did it happen?
Patient 57 was renamed as patient O. This was when the report was published. O meant “Out-of California”.
However, it is this O which was confused with zero. Moreover, Dugas was the original patient of the study.
This added to the confusion. Because of this Dugas was considered to be the epicenter of this cluster diagram.
The bestseller by Shilts added to the misery.
The debunking
Scientists, however, now have concluded that this is all a myth. This is because of the study of the blood samples.
The study shows that the virus of Dugas is not related to the cluster. Therefore, he cannot be the Patient Zero of AIDS.
Moreover, there is also a documentary by Laurie Lynd. The documentary is called Killing Patient Zero.
It aims to clear the reputation of Dugas. This will be for once and for all.
