Gaëtan Dugas

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Gaëtan Dugas
Born (1953-04-20)April 20, 1953
Died March 30, 1984(1984-03-30) (aged 31)
Quebec City, Quebec
Nationality Canadian
Other names "Patient Zero"
Occupation Flight attendant
Known for Alleged patient zero for AIDS

Gaëtan Dugas (French: [ɡaetɑ̃ dyˈɡa]; April 20, 1953 – March 30, 1984) was a Canadian who worked for Air Canada as a flight attendant.[2] Dugas became notorious as the alleged patient zero for AIDS.

Patient Zero allegation

A study published in the American Journal of Medicine in 1984 traced many of New York City's early HIV infections to an unnamed infected homosexual male flight attendant. Epidemiologists hypothesized that Dugas had carried the virus out of Africa and introduced it into the Western gay community.[1]

Dugas is featured prominently in Randy Shilts's book And the Band Played On, which documents the outbreak of AIDS in the United States. Shilts portrays Gaëtan Dugas as having almost sociopathic behavior by allegedly intentionally infecting, or at least recklessly endangering, others with the virus. Dugas is described as being a charming, handsome sexual athlete who, according to his own estimation, averaged hundreds of sex partners a year. He claimed to have had over 2,500 sexual partners across North America since becoming sexually active in 1972.[3] In addition, Dugas was legally married in Los Angeles on June 27, 1977, in an illegal attempt to receive United States citizenship.

Dugas died in Quebec City on March 30, 1984, as a result of kidney failure caused by continual AIDS-related infections.[4]

The "Patient Zero" term arose in March 1984 after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study. The CDC began tracking the sexual liaisons and practices of homosexual men in California, New York, and some other states. As Dugas was found to be the center of a network of sexual partners, he was dubbed "patient 0".[1]

A 1984 paper[1] linked 40 AIDS patients by sexual contact. Of those patients, Dugas was the first to experience an onset of symptoms of AIDS. In the above graph, Dugas is represented by the circle highlighted in red.

Analysis and criticism

Genetic analysis of HIV provides some support for the Patient Zero theory. Dugas is now believed to be part of a cluster of homosexual men who traveled frequently, were extremely sexually active, and died of AIDS at a very early stage in the epidemic.[5]

However, a number of authorities[citation needed] have since voiced reservations about the implications of the CDC Patient Zero study and characterisations of Dugas as being responsible for bringing HIV to cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the Patient Zero study, the average length of time between sexual contact and the onset of symptoms was 10.5 months.[1] While Shilts's book does not make such an allegation, the rumour that Dugas was the principal disseminator of the virus became widespread. In 1988, Andrew R. Moss published an opposing view in the New York Review of Books.[6]

A November 2007 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences dismisses the Patient Zero hypothesis and instead claims that HIV was transmitted from Africa to Haiti in 1966 and from Haiti to the United States in 1969.[7][8]

Robert Rayford has since been confirmed as the first documented victim of HIV/AIDS in North America,[9] having died at age sixteen in May 1969. He reported having experienced symptoms since 1966.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Auerbach, D.M.; W.W. Darrow, H.W. Jaffe, and J.W. Curran (1984). "Cluster of cases of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Patients linked by sexual contact". The American Journal of Medicine 76 (3): 487–92. doi:10.1016/0002-9343(84)90668-5. PMID 6608269. 
  2. ↑ (French) "La découverte de la maladie — Sida, les premières années" (Discovering the illness — AIDS, the first years), Radio-Canada, 17 January 1992
  3. ↑ Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point. Little Brown. p. 21. ISBN 0-316-34662-4. 
  4. ↑ Shilts, Randy (1988). And The Band Played On. Penguin. p. 439. ISBN 0-14-011130-1. 
  5. ↑ Kuiken, C; Thakallapalli R, Esklid A, de Ronde A (2000-11-01). "Genetic analysis reveals epidemiologic patterns in the spread of human immunodeficiency virus". American Journal of Epidemiology (Los Alamos National Laboratory) 152 (9): 814–22. doi:10.1093/aje/152.9.814. PMID 11085392. 
  6. ↑ Moss, Andrew R. "AIDS Without End", The New York Review of Books, December 8, 1988, retrieved December 2, 2006
  7. ↑ AIDS virus invaded U.S. from Haiti: study
  8. ↑ The emergence of HIV/AIDS in the Americas and beyond.
  9. ↑ Kolata, Gina (28 October 1987). "Boy's 1969 Death Suggests AIDS Invaded U.S. Several Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 February 2009. 

External links


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