As is becoming the norm, DNA testing is once again using old blood samples to overturn a decades-old assumption, a rather heart-breaking one. Historical research, initiated by Cambridge University, has dispelled a long-held myth that the HIV epidemic in North America had a nucleus, or starting point, specifically, Gaétan Dugas. A French-Canadian gay man, Dugas was pointed at by the media, as the cause of the 80s-wide spread of the then-new disease, and even given the moniker, “Patient Zero.”
The name, since flirted with in other outbreaks of disease, is specific to the AIDS era, which birthed it. A lack of sufficient knowledge, concerning HIV, seems to have been paramount in the scapegoating of Dugas, a mistake not rectified in Dugas’ lifetime, even though Dugas cooperated with giving a great deal of personal information. Sadly, Dugas was only cleared of the dubious status he received posthumously.
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AIDS: The making of the ‘Patient Zero’ myth