patient zero

English - English

Definition of patient zero in English English dictionary

The initial patient in the population of an epidemiological investigation

Hyphenation

pa·tient ze·ro

Turkish pronunciation

peyşınt zirō

Pronunciation

/ˈpāsʜənt ˈzērō/ /ˈpeɪʃənt ˈziːroʊ/

Etymology

() Originally patient O (standing for out of California), referring to Gaëtan Dugas|Gaëtan Dugas]], a superspreader of AIDS. The letter O was later misinterpreted as a zero.