HIV Patient Zero Cleared: Science Says He Did Not Spread AIDS To The US

Gaëtan Dugas Dugas was one of the most demonized HIV patients in history. Known as Patient Zero who allegedly spread HIV in the U.S., he gained legendary status in the history of AIDS. But just recently, science cleared him of such claims.

Mr. Dugas was a homosexual flight attendant. According to BBC, a study published in the journal Nature suggested that he was just among the thousands of people infected in the 1970s.

It was only in 1981 when AIDS started to be recognized. It was the year when unusual symptoms were found in gay men. But researchers were able to analyze stored blood samples from hepatitis trials in the 1970, and some of which contained HIV. According to ABC, the team used a new approach to piece together the whole genetic sequence of HIV. Blood samples from gay and bisexual men were used.

2,000 samples from San Francisco and New York were screened before the team got eight complete HIV genetic codes. Soon after, scientists built HIV's family tree and traced its arrival in the U.S. Dr. Michael Worobey, one of the researchers, said the findings indicate that they could have originated in 1970 or 1971 and not during the late 1970s.

Likewise, the team analyzed the genetic code of the virus taken from Mr. Dugas's blood and found that it was not the "father" of the U.S. epidemic. According to science historian Dr. Richard McKay, Mr. Dugas was one of the patients vilified by the belief that they fuelled epidemics with malicious intent.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control first labelled Mr. Dugas as Patient O (the letter), for he was a case "Out-of-California". Over time, the O became 0; hence the term Patient Zero. In 1984, Mr. Dugas died. He was identified as Patient Zero in the book titled And the Band Played On.