Gaëtan Dugas
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| Gaëtan Dugas | |
| Born | February 20, 1953 |
|---|---|
| Died | March 30, 1984 (aged 31) Quebec City, Quebec |
| Occupation | Flight attendant |
| Known for | Alleged Patient Zero for AIDS |
Gaëtan Dugas (French pronunciation: [ɡetɑ̃ dyˈɡa];[citation needed] February 20, 1953–March 30, 1984) was a French-Canadian who worked for Air Canada as a flight attendant.[1] Dugas became notorious as the alleged Patient Zero for AIDS.
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[edit] 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 incorrectly hypothesized that Dugas carried the virus out of Africa and introduced it into the Western homosexual community.[2]
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.[3] 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 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.[4]
[edit] Analysis and criticism
Genetic analysis of HIV provides some support for the Patient Zero theory. But some allege that Dugas probably was not exclusively responsible for the initial spread of the virus in the United States, as he was 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 (around 1980–1982).[5]
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 single-handedly bringing HIV to such places as San Francisco or Los Angeles. While Shilts's book does not make such an allegation, the rumour, due to a misunderstanding of the proper interpretation of the early HIV patient cluster study, became difficult to eradicate. Andrew R. Moss debunked the story in the New York Review of Books.[6]
A more recent work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 1, 2007 dismisses this patient zero hypothesis and claims that AIDS transited from Africa to Haiti in 1966 and from Haiti to the United States in 1969.[7][8]
[edit] Cultural references
The 1993 Canadian musical/comedy/drama film Zero Patience uses the theory of Dugas' being Patient Zero as its basis (largely ridiculing this theory in the process). The film does not identify Dugas by name, naming the character "Zero," although Zero, like Dugas, was a French-Canadian flight attendant.
The 1993 American made-for-TV docudrama And the Band Played On features Gaëtan Dugas as a side character in the film. He is portrayed by Jeffrey Nordling.
In the 1998 novel Koolaids: The Art of War by Rabih Alameddine, Dugas is cited by name as the person responsible for the epidemic in the western world. However, the reference to Dugas is included under a list of "truisms" meant to challenge popular misconceptions about AIDS.
In the 2007 novel Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, the main character, Buster Casey, is compared to Gaetan when he spreads a new strain of Rabies following an unusual hobby of blindly reaching into animal burrows. The spread of the Rabies virus in the book parallels some aspects of the AIDS epidemic.
In Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, Dugas is referenced in a cartoon clip where a Canadian flight attendant speaking in a monotone voice meets a monkey at an airport. They eventually proceed to have unsafe sex, and later the flight attendant confesses to the monkey that he was diagnosed with an illness that affects his immune system. After the confession they continue to have sex. Although not identified by name, the flight attendant in the cartoon is wearing what appears to be an Air Canada uniform with a maple leaf logo on the front.[9]
He is also mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell's non-fiction book,The Tipping Point.
[edit] See also
- Timeline of early AIDS cases (1959~1979)
- Timeline of AIDS (1930~2006)
- CCR5
- Epidemiology
- Mary Mallon
[edit] Notes
- ^ (French) "La découverte de la maladie — Sida, les premières années" (Discovering the illness — AIDS, the first years), Radio-Canada, 17 January 1992
- ^ 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:. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6608269&dopt=Citation. Retrieved on March 2007.
- ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (2000). The Tipping Point. Little Brown. pp. 21. ISBN 0-316-34662-4.
- ^ Shilts, Randy (1988). And The Band Played On. Penguin. pp. 439. ISBN 0-14-011130-1.
- ^ 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:. PMID 11085392. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11085392&dopt=Abstract. Retrieved on March 2007.
- ^ Moss, Andrew R. "AIDS Without End", The New York Review of Books, December 8, 1988, retrieved December 2, 2006
- ^ AIDS virus invaded U.S. from Haiti: study
- ^ The emergence of HIV/AIDS in the Americas and beyond.
- ^ DVD Review: Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade Of Cartoon Comedy
[edit] External links
- Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia page for Dugas -- he lived in Halifax for several years.
