Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic

By: Richard A. McKay

Narrated by: Paul Woodson

In Patient Zero, Richard A. McKay presents a carefully documented and sensitively written account of the life of Gaetan Dugas, a gay man whose skin cancer diagnosis in 1980 took on very different meanings as the HIV/AIDS epidemic developed - and who received widespread posthumous infamy when he was incorrectly identified as patient zero of the North American outbreak.

McKay shows how investigators from the US Centers for Disease Control inadvertently created the term amid their early research into the emerging health crisis; how an ambitious journalist dramatically amplified the idea in his determination to reframe national debates about AIDS; and how many individuals grappled with the notion of patient zero-adopting, challenging, and redirecting its powerful meanings - as they tried to make sense of and respond to the first 15 years of an unfolding epidemic. With important insights for our interconnected age, Patient Zero untangles the complex process by which individuals and groups create meaning and allocate blame when faced with new disease threats. What McKay gives us here is myth-smashing revisionist history at its best.

©2017 The University of Chicago (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

I Learned So Much

Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic is a very important read (listen) if you’re interested in the history of AIDS. I was both held captive and saddened by the fumbling of facts back in the beginning of the epidemic. So many lives could have been spared and saved!
I recommend this book to anyone who has ever had even a thought about how it all “supposedly” began.

Mix bag for me

Let me first say, I never bought that Gaetan Dugas was "Patient Zero". So I'm glad that the truth about this myth has been corrected.

That being said, I felt the book was on a constant wash, rinse , repeat. The author clearly is no fan of Randy Shilts. I get it, Mr. McKay, you dislike Mr. Shilts.

Now I did learn a lot more about Randy Shilts' life that I had no idea about. I will admit makes me see him in a different light. It's a mixture of pity and disappointment.

On a side note: The narrator is fantastic. I'll have to look for more books with his narration.

Dismisses GDs role too completely

While I do not believe a patient zero exists and is certainly not GD, his behaviors and willful disregard for what was going on shouldn’t be minimized, though he should not be singularly villainized, either. But despite being presented with mounting evidence of how the virus spread he had such a devil-may-care attitude about it.

This piece also undermines the good that happened as a result of And the Band Played On. While the portrayal of GD in that book wasn’t fair, books are written based on what is known at the time. And recent pandemics show we are always in search of who is to blame. Unfortunately for ATBPO that person was GD.

There’s fault with both and so many more. The real villain, which I hope is written about more in depth in the future, is the horrendous president Reagan and his administration which did nothing. Thats what happens when a pandemic is killing all the right people.

Whoa! Lots of Info!

I couldn't get very far into this book. It has SO much information on things other than patient zero. It was hard to follow. I got through the forward and half of chapter 1 and had to keep rewinding to revisit what i just heard. In my opinion, it has way too much-unwanted information.

The narrator of this book, however, is fantastic.

Great listen.

Very detailed and informative book on the early AIDS epidemic.

Listen or read "And The Band Played On" before, as this book refers to and clarifies a lot of the information from that book and you'll get a better picture of the struggle people with the disease had to deal with.

A great revisionist history book

I love how he manages to give an updated, more objective account of a part of history that has being repeated like a broken record. I think “And the band played on” and this book should be read together.