English Explanatory Dictionary

patient zero

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The initial patient in the population of an epidemiological investigation.
  2. The source or origin of something.

Word forms

patient zero patient zeros patient zeroes patients zero patient 0

Etymology

Originally patient O (standing for out of California), referring to Gaëtan Dugas, a superspreader of AIDS who was at the time erroneously believed to have introduced the virus to the United States. The letter O was later misinterpreted as a zero.

Synonyms

index patient
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