GAËTAN DUGAS

Gaëtan Dugas (French pronunciation: [ɡaetɑ̃ dyˈɡa]; February 20, 1953–March 30, 1984) was a Canadian who worked for Air Canada as a flight attendant.Dugas became notorious as the alleged patient zero for AIDS. Because AIDS was known as GRID in the late 70's and early 80's, Dugas is often referred to as "The Gridler".

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 homosexual community.
Dugas was featured prominently in Randy Shilts's book And the Band Played On, which documented the outbreak of AIDS in the United States. Shilts portrayed Gaëtan Dugas as having almost sociopathic behavior, by allegedly intentionally infecting, or at least recklessly endangering, others with the virus. Dugas was 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. As a flight attendant Dugas was able to travel the globe, at little cost, to such early HIV epicenters as Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, and San Francisco. Being diagnosed with Kaposi's Sarcoma in June 1980, and after being warned that this could be caused and spread by a sexually transmitted virus, Dugas refused to stop having unprotected sex, claiming that he could do what he wanted with his body. He allegedly informed some of his sex partners, just after having sex, that he had the "gay cancer" and perhaps they would get it too.
Dugas died in Quebec City on March 30, 1984 as a result of kidney failure caused by continual AIDS-related infections.
The "Patient Zero" term arose in March 1984, after a CDC study. The CDC began tracking the sexual liaisons and practices of homosexual men in California and New York. As Dugas was found to be the link between a number of cases, he was dubbed "patient O" for "Out of California". It was mistakenly then interpreted as Patient Zero.

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.
However, a number of authorities have since voiced reservations about the implications of the CDC Patient Zero study, and characterisations of Dugas as being responsible for bringing HIV to such places as Los Angeles and San Francisco. 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.
A more recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 1, 2007 dismisses the Patient Zero hypothesis and claims that AIDS transited from Africa to Haiti in 1966 and from Haiti to the United States in 1969.
Robert R. has since been confirmed as the first victim of HIV/AIDS in North America, having died at aged 16 in May 1969. He reported having experienced symptoms since 1966. (en.wikipedia.org)