60 Minutes: Patient Zero - CBS (11/15/1987)

[@eckankar7756]

I worked in a leather bar in 1979 and had a date that night with Zero...I didn't get off till 2AM so there was a long wait. Ended up he left with someone else, I watched them walk out hand in hand. He had given me a business card with his name and number printed on it, I still have that card. Oh, well, I thought. Now I realize what a blessing the Universe did for me.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

A historic artifact!!! But I'm certain Air Canada did NOT provide business cards for their lowly flight attendants! Dugas must have had them printed for himself. He was based in my hometown for a time and my friend saw him.

[@aidenw207]

talk about dodging a bullet.

[@eckankar7756]

@@michaelrmurphy2734 it was not a work business card

[@eckankar7756]

@@aidenw207 Absolutely!!! I did later become the Charge RN for a 55 bed HIV inpatient unit in my city. Hospitals treated AIDS patients horibally, nursing facilities the same. We opened up the Shanti inpatient unit that lasted for 3 years.

[@stuartlee6622]

Which bar??

[@Ronald-ks2iy]

I lost a very good friend to AIDS in 1995. He moved to DC in the summer of 1994 because he did not want people in NY to know about his condition, at that time it was still looked upon as the plague. At the start of 1995 his health began to deteriorate rapidly. In April he was hospitalized for a short period and checked himself out. One of his co-worker went by his apartment for a wellness check as he wasn’t answering his phone, she found him lying in bed in his own filth, his sheets were stained with vomit and the smell was really bad, he was conscious but barely. She called an ambulance and he passed away in the wee hours of the morning. His body just gave out unable to battle the many devastating infections. He was just one of the tens of thousands that met their fate alone and in agony. He was just 26. R.I.P. Jay, missing you still.💔

[@elbt101]

❤

[@debbiemetke5938]

Just terrible the way they were treated.

[@kayjay407]

​@debbiemetke5938 I remember a family member telling me not to hug my friend because he had AIDS. I can't describe the disappointment and disgust I felt toward that family member. I witnessed so many dying or near death and I felt honored to bring a smile and hug. The loneliness also contributed to their pain, imo.😢

[@DaKeys2Life]

So sorry for your loss😢

[@starfox9894]

It was a terrible time during the late 80s-90s. And we do not talk of the folks that died by suicide due to depression or remorse from losing so many friends and family. 😢

[@WrenChastain]

😢💔

[@beedub93]

As a teenager in the 80s, it was a scary time.

[@privat9538]

That's what it was supposed to do. Scare

[@Tammy_4]

Early twenties and in nursing school then. It was scary and so heartbreaking.

[@11dsw]

The whole decade was horrible.. i’ll never understand people saying, “I love the 80s.“… Trashed out, loser of a decade…..music, fashion and especially this nitemare.

[@Mike-cv9rr]

​@@11dswif you wasn't gay the 80s was great

[@scottjeune154]

@@11dsw im that way about the 90s

[@alienlife7754]

My brother was a player in the 80’s - 90’s. One of those guys who’s main goal in life was getting laid on the weekend. And of course protection was a foreign word to him. One day he callas me scared shitless because he’s having symptoms he can’t explain. So I said well, lets take you to get tested. That’s the first step. So we get the test done and he has to wait a day or three for results. The whole time in a panic. When the results came back they were negative for AIDS but positive for gonorrhea. He was given meds and it cleared up. But that was his wake up call. He went totally celibate after that. He dated women but no sex. Unfortunately I lost him due to a heart attack two years ago. But at least he didn’t waste away from AIDS.

[@thatgirl9759]

So sorry for your loss❤❤

[@katvtay]

Well, going from a total p00nhound to celibate for life was a bit extreme. Couldn’t he find a happy medium like find a monogamous partner and get tested before they first slept together? In any event, I am sorry that he passed. Glad to hear he only had a very treatable STI and cooled it after that wake up call.

[@laminage]

My God! He in his own way was lucky. Terry Lester (Ex Jack Abbott #1) from the young and the restless died of a heart attack due to his HIV Status. I was stunned to know so many soap actors male/female were gay, and the folks who worked behind the scenes also died of aids.

[@jonathanlandau-litewski7405]

Sk sorry for you loss. My dad was diagnosed with a brain tumour, inoperable, so he thought I may as well experience 'heaven on earth' whilst he still could. His heaven on earth? Heroin. Used shared needles, what an absolute fool. HIV+, progressed very quickly to Aids. Aids related pneumonia killed him before the brain tumour could.

[@aye_its_karate6169]

If he would've been busting loads that whole time, he wouldn't have had a heart attack.

[@AZbluedot196]

Lost my uncle in 1984, he was one of the first 10K lost in San Francisco.

[@andrewcross8244]

Your uncle musta been a terrible deviant. Disgusting behavior that Mocks natural order gave your Twinky Uncle his death. Anal Inflicted Death Sentence

[@pegitamg9716]

I was taking classes to become a medical assistant in 1982 and had heard about this 'new disease' on my drive into school. I told my teacher and class what I had heard. No one believed me. I had no way to prove this so I just shrugged my shoulders and let it go. A month after graduation this story was everywhere. I've never regretted being right as much as I did then.

[@Pippi-Longstocking]

I had the same with the pandemic. I read the book “Influenza” and it talked about what if there was a pandemic and talking about national resources, worldwide responsibilities, and effects on the economy. And it really made me start to think and everyone I tried to talk to about it told me I was crazy. Maybe I didn’t know there was a pandemic coming just that what if there was a pandemic we should be thinking about these things. Oh and here’s Covid.

[@Wookinpanub235]

Same thing happened to me during Feb 2022 when I had a training at one job about a viral pneumonia hitting China. Went to Emmy other job and told them. I was laughed at

[@randymillhouse791]

Being right is important, isn't it, Mr. Cooper?

[@jonasandezekiel1109]

​@@Pippi-Longstockingyep, and I invented penicillin. 😂😂😂😂

[@BossySwan]

Always satisfying proving doubting toms right

[@kevinharris3993]

I went to so many funerals during that time that I lost count. Unfortunately, this generation has gone back to bad sexual behavior probably worse than the time at the peak of the AIDS crisis.

[@WrenChastain]

What astounds me is the uninformed population thinks it’s been cured. A former ex friend year ago commented to me about how it was turned around anymore. I looked at her and pointed out that it had been cured and people were still dying of the virus. Yes we have prop and couple of other medications but it’s still out there and can still become infected. Incredulous!!

[@soft_serve_666]

Thank you so, so much for all these new uploads. It's a part of history that people need to learn as much about as possible so all those lives weren't lost in vain.

[@bertroost1675]

People won't learn.

[@TwinFalls88]

​@@bertroost1675people are learning. But more work is to be done. Specifically cracking down on "hookup" apps, both gay and straight, that are spreading diseases at an alarming rate. We did it with the Cigarette companies, & we can do it with the hookup apps today 💪 👊 more regulations are needed, the upside being a knock at the shareholders' profits

[@Bluetreez]

And this upload is bigotry on full display. Disproven long ago. Made to make the poor man look a villain.

[@TwinFalls88]

@@Bluetreez should we give gay and bi men today advice to have fewer partners? or is that "bigotry"

[@Bluetreez]

@@TwinFalls88 it's none of your business who sleeps with who. Yup. Bigot.

[@PiggyFuktoy]

I was diagnosed as Positive to HIV in the very first wave of testing in the SF area… diagnosed not only as HIV Positive, I had 68 T cells which was an immediate FULL BLOWN AIDS diagnosis, I was given 6 months to live, MAYBE a year if I received chemotherapy ie AZT, I declined and now forty some years later I’m still here

[@FrenchBubbleWorld]

Hello how is it possible? How old are you now?

[@jamestheproexpat]

@@FrenchBubbleWorld don’t believed people on the internet

[@happyclam1266]

@@FrenchBubbleWorld Had to be a false positive? It doesn't just disappear on its own.

[@judithcohn7878]

Thank god you’re still with us!❤

[@chantalsimpendingheartatta9355]

Wow, I'm so sorry that happened to you, you must've been terrified. Glad you pulled through.

[@f.frederickskitty2910]

I remember how ostracized pt's with HIV were in the early 90's when I was working on nursing prerequisites for transfer to my local university. I wrote so many papers on this topic because it seemed like a pandemic spreading like wild fire. Even though it's transmission was established infected pt's were still unfairly shunned. Diana Princess made great strides in finally breaking down that barrier. On behalf of so many affected by this illness, thank you Diana. You were a decent and loving person. ❤

[@randymillhouse791]

Yes she was. But even she didn't know enough to wear a seat belt.

[@FUBARGunpla]

between princess di and the golden girls, they did a lot for that community.

[@lestercombs1871]

My best friend died from AIDS. His death was horrible. Miss you David King.

[@angelamccrackin5243]

My step son died from it as well. I got to know and love him in such a short time and his pain and suffering was unbearable...

[@afridgetoofar1818]

My brother died from AIDS. He was a junkie though

[@scottjeune154]

Sending you janet jackson together again song vibes

[@markplotkin3331]

Did David live in Minneapolis?

[@randallbyrd8123]

My older half brother had numbers in Seattle that blows these numbers away. He was a downtown Seattle street dragger and told us he had turned 15000 "tricks " in 15 years We being my dad and mom and myself. My mom tried to stop him by telling him' it`s not fair to the other people you are having sex with, HIV is deadly." He responded with " Well if they want me they want what ive got and i`ll give it to them." He was one of those people that would hang out at a "gay bar" and pick up on as many as 3 men a day. He did this for 15+ years he died in 1999 the doctors told us he had pph he was 42 years old they said he had been and junky taking anything on the streets of Seattle MDA EXCTASY.Everything . Primary pulmonary hypertension and AIDS killed him .

[@RG-qo2hu]

Someone should have reported him.

[@viking933]

You and your parents should get sued . accessory to murder!!

[@carmenl163]

Maybe that urban myth about how people would wake up finding the words their one-night stand had written on the mirror: "Welcome to the world of AIDS" started with the story of patient Zero refusing to warn others.

[@toddjohnson5176]

It's not a urban legend.This piece of filth knowingly spread thus to hundreds . It happens all the time. There is a doc on a guy in prison that would do that. It's called " The man who used hiv ad a weapon " . That piece of garbage name was Darrell Rowe.

[@calzabbath]

My then girlfriend back in 1989 used to tell that story. It was a naiver time without Internet or anything like that, we always believed those tales.

[@ellenchavez2043]

The book Andy Schiltz wrote, "And The Band Played On". It is a riveting account of how this disease unfolded, how the Reagan Administration ignored it until a Florida grandma and young boy contracted the disease, and how the gay advocates got in the way of their community's health and preventing the spread of the disease. The book was made into a four part series with the same title on HBO.

[@cherylb2008]

Yes The band played on. Excellent movie and very accurate

[@Teeveepicksures]

And may Nancy Reagan burn in hell for eternity.

[@1021ajr]

The author of the book is Randy Shilts.

[@jm7804]

You cannot blame the Reagan administration for the spread of HIV. Even when it was known how the disease is spread, high risk groups continued to engage in risky behavior. You need Ronald Reagan to tell you to stop sleeping around, wear condoms, and don't share needles? Really? You can certainly make a case that they did not take enough action regarding protecting the blood supply. The Bush and Clinton administrations threw huge sums of money at HIV and did bring the cases down, but not significantly. It was a gradual decline. Even now there are still 30,000 new cases per year and everyone knows how it is spread.

[@thomasceneri867]

No, it’s not accurate at all. How can you possibly think that one promiscuous man could spread such a disease? This theory has been disproved many years ago.

[@conni2you]

I was born in 1980. Sometime in the late 1980s I had an uncle who was diagnosed with HIV. Unfortunately, it did eventually turn into AIDS and he ended up passing away in the early 1990s from an opportunistic cancer. Opportunistic infections, and opportunistic cancers were a common cause of death for people that were diagnosed with AIDS. I think about the terrible suffering that he and so many others like him endured and how 30 years later there are commercials on TV, on KZbin and anywhere else you can think of for people that have been diagnosed with HIV and all they have to do is just take this one pill once a day or something along those lines and it will potentially make it like they don’t even have the disease. It’s just so crazy that it went from being a death sentence to some thing you can manage with a simple medication regimen. I am probably over simplifying the treatment, but even then it’s just mine blowing how much has changed in regard to diagnosis and treatment. I’m just glad that it is no longer a death sentence anymore.

[@WaldoBagelTopper]

I agree. it seems every few years there some new breakthrough In cure research too.

[@JaxonSmithers]

I had a roommate who contracted HIV in 1986 or 1987 from using needles. He sobered up a year later and tested positive for HIV. He was fine for a long time, even played sports and jogged. He started getting sick in 1994 and went downhill really fast after that. He died in 1995. I knew 3 people who died of AIDS, none of them were gay.

[@Lisa-tt9hm]

They can cure cancers too. But no money is made with a cure.

[@fishjj76]

It is mindblowing that a death sentence has now become a very managable life sentence.

[@conni2you]

@@fishjj76 WOW… well said and so true. I don’t know why, but that sentence was very powerful to me.

[@rebeccarankin3070]

My brother died of AIDS. We should learn from this. RIP Marvin

[@thatgirl9759]

I'm so sorry for your loss❤

[@lorireece1970]

My sincere condolences on the loss of your dear brother. May he rest in peace.

[@jubileepup6877]

Mine did too

[@sandrahunter5904]

❤❤❤😢

[@lf3541]

So sorry, doll. Big hugs.

[@auzziernvdl]

I remember being a teen in the 80’s, living in the Deep South, when HIV/AIDS came out and naively, I never worried about HIV/AIDS. When I was in college to become an RN in the late 80’s and very early 90’s, there was only a paragraph in RN school about HIV/AIDS because there really wasn’t much known. When I was an RN and in the mid 90’s, teaching new RN’s about HIV/AIDS, I was disturbed about how little they were still teaching about it in nursing school. I was teaching a new RN, hands on, how to care for an HIV/AIDS PATIENT. I was shocked that she “dressed out” to go into the home of a patient dying with AIDS. She put on the “bunny suit”, face shield, booties and anything else she could find in my vehicle. I threw a fit in that patients driveway. I gave a quick class to her on these patients. She was NOT about to walk into the home of an HIV/AIDS patient dying dressed out like that!!!! She couldn’t believe that I began teaching that patient and lover on how to protect each other. How could we expect the public to treat HIV/AIDS patients with simple humanity when the majority of the medical professionals didn’t know how to treat them? I must say that today, in 2022, patients with HIV/AIDS are treated much better than in the beginning. Medical professionals do not even bat an eye at the diagnosis anymore. I have watched from the beginning, being a crazy teenager till now, and realize the medical field has changed because of HIV/AIDS. We now have HIPPA which didn’t exist in the 80’s and came to existence because of HIV/AIDS. The world evolves. It is slower than the majority of the world NEEDS but it does evolve.

[@barneyronnie]

I did wear a bunny suit and booties when assessing AIDS patients as a physician in the 80s. We just didn't know much about it. I met Gaetan!

[@troysierra5228]

@@barneyronnie did you treat Gaeten

[@NoctisAquila]

you are awesome! ❤

[@muffdiver240]

How DARE YOU bully a trainee for taking safety precautions! Too bad you didn't get reported and FIRED for that, and for throwing a fit in that patient's driveway. Unprofessional!

[@greg1mcintosh844]

You realize you just described how you and hundreds of thousands of medical staff "dressed out" in Bunny suits dehumanizing patients to the point of scaring them literally to Death .. much if the cause of most COVID deaths, Fear alone, dying alone, that you "front line Heroes" were complicit in in 2020 Lest You Forget

[@Bootmahoy88]

I'd come from Minnesota in 1986 to attend NYU Tisch Grad Acting Program. As soon as I arrived I began hearing stories. In the Midwest we were sadly uninformed. The news was there, but the stations in the Twin Cities muted the danger. As horrible as that sounds, it was true. I awakened to the scourge while I was at school. In 1989 I performed the role of Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart. I spoke with many people about their own battle with the scourge of AIDS and especially about their struggles to get something done about it, including Larry Kramer. It took forever to make the news. Meanwhile it was killing thousands. In my discussions I was often struck dumb with horror. The play opened my eyes wide, and I began to work in the community, feeling terrible that I'd been so damned blind for so long. Yet, I helped as much as I could. It was the VERY LEAST I could do in the face of such malicious silence about the disease.

[@manuelsaldivar01]

How ironic life can be. Randy Shields was so well informed on HIV and he still ended up dying of that disease in 1995. Just sad!

[@MissMollyCohen]

Wow, thanks for sharing, I'm sure not a lot of people knew this.. I didn't! My Uncle passed away from TB as he couldn't fight it off due to having AIDS., This was also in the mid 90s

[@MistressKarma6969]

Randy caught it he says before they knew wat grids was. So he didn't get tested in till he wrote as the band played on in order to not be bitter when writing it. After he finished he got tested and was positive. But yeah he had already caught grids b4 learning anything about it. Rip randy shults

[@benbanks6302]

It is odd seeing him on this documenty he seems so healthy and then seeing him sick and dieing on the other documenty a few years later

[@thesebadseeds]

Live by the GRIDs, die by the GRIDs.

[@1021ajr]

The author was Randy Shilts.

[@CharlieTorres777]

What a great compilation of videos about the AIDS crisis in America! Thank you!

[@laetitiavisagie-gg6kk]

In 2023 it is still an epidemic in Southern Africa - and it has little to do with sexual orientation 😢

[@fob1xxl]

And while the "Band Payed On", the Evangelical Christian RIGHT wished you dead ! They said it was God's way of getting rid of you for being Gay. The Hippocrates like Fallwell, Swaggart and Robertson spewed their vile hatred and condemnation daily. Dispicable Christians like Anita Bryant saw their chance to push their far right Republican politics onto society by condemning gays and scaring the public. The Evangelicals of today are no different. The radical MAGA RIGHT like BOEBERT and GREENE would rather see you dead than gay. I lived through that horrible decade. I had a 40 year monogamous relationship and neither of us contracted Aids. I saw some of my friends die. It was horrendous how we were treated and looked upon. ESPECIALLY by those that professed Love and forgiveness. The CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM GROUP is destroying America and Democracy ! 🇺🇲🏳️‍🌈🌏👍

[@shibrina603]

​@@laetitiavisagie-gg6kkwho cares. Its far away

[@Goawaykidyoubotherme]

Too bad its lies that have been destroyed

[@jayemm7942]

many viewers seem unaware this piece’s premise was disproven in 2016

[@starelise1387]

I was born in 1984 and I asked my mom “what were you doing having sex in the 80s cause I’d be scared shitless” and my mom literally told me “we thought only gays could get it”

[@bradenharris8718]

Yes? I mean… that is LITERALLY what people were being told? You can’t blame your mother for her ignorance when you have every reputable place you could get information then telling you only gays could get it, even the president himself said those words. How can you blame her for not knowing information that was being kept from her? It was the 80s- there wasn’t a lot of alternative ways to find out what was really going on like today.

[@gerardmackay8909]

I actually visited the US in the spring of 1984 when I was 22 and had never had gay sex (out of fear not lack of desire). My hetero cousins in Chicago talked about AIDS a lot and to them it was a joke topic and not something to be concerned about at all. The common belief was that the only ‘straight’ infections were drug users and Haitians and, as they were neither, they had nothing to fear.

[@JSacc]

The only heterosexual transmissions are typically in the Black community because of the prison/down low culture so many of their men are a part of. They pass it to their women. Heterosexual AIDS is exceedingly rare. Most straight people that have it get it from sharing needles.

[@ericworst]

He actually wasn't patient zero - he was patient O, as in alphabet O for Outside USA - i.e. Canada - this was never explained on the CDC charts and was just taken as zero. But the book is still amazing reading even now 40 years on.

[@BobHooker]

I am not sure why for years it was assumed that the danger of AIDS made it okay to ruin a human's reputation. There was no patient 0, AIDs was already established in the community before he came along and would have spread the same anyways. The bath houses were way more a serious problem. The big problem was untracked sexual contact. People would go to bath houses and spread it without people being able to track it.

[@joejones669]

​@BobHooker well he was dead by that time anyway. But you heard the Dr. He didn't seem to care who got infected. She's not the only one to say that about him. Many of his former partners said the same thing about him. As far as his reputation goes. Dugas was dead before the release of Randy Shilts book. Shilts was a phenomenal investigative journalist. Far better than anyone around today. Yes he made an error in one part of his book but you can't condemn a dead man. Shilts died sometime in the early 90s if I remember correctly.

[@JeffPhillips1]

Actually the “O” stood for “Out of California” and that’s directly from the mouth of the epidemiologist who complied the data.

[@joejones669]

@JeffPhillips1 not sure why it matters now. It's been 35 years since Randy Shilts book.

[@scottw6704]

@@joejones669 Since the "patient zero" nomenclature gained enough ground to be used in a title given by 60 Minutes, I'd say yes, it apparently did matter and is still a critical moment in AIDS history.

[@theoriginalbridgetconnors]

I have a friend who was one of the first 20 people who was diagnosed with AIDS in Ohio. He's the only one still alive.😢

[@fromthehaven94]

Nearly forty years alive and kicking 👏👏👏

[@nailartguy3363]

@@jasonrockefeller3904It _was_ death sentence. 1 out of 20 is a 95% mortality rate. Without the availability of medication in early 90s, he would surely not be alive today. Unless was one of the .001% who have a rare genetic mutation that doesn’t allow HIV to spread through the body.

[@ericatheempress6698]

That's incredible, especially to have Aids and still living. I hope he's maintaining his health.

[@johniii8147]

Great for him. There are a lucky few that have certain genetic mutations that make them more resistant to the virus research has shown.

[@viking933]

Actually Not true, all 300 in Ohio who got tested first positiv died. Easy to find online

[@ourblazingworld]

I was a theatre arts major, I lost so many friends I can't even state the number. The one thing people rarely talk about are the heterosexual women that caught the disease from bi or closeted men. It was gut wrenching to have so many die from both communities. I remember in the mid 90s going through my address book which I had since college in the 80s. So many names crossed through... I threw it away because it was too painful to remember. Especially the loss of some of closest friends. RIP KWM, DP, PS, MH and others.

[@johnhiram1207]

I was in a stable relationship at that time. Otherwise I would be dead now. I lost count on how many dear friends passed in the 80s. I have bad survivors guilt even now in 2023.

[@henryjoshual1848]

if all gays acted responsibly like YOU, AIDS would have died out years ago....

[@johnboys4697]

The same for me....thank god I was in a relationship also it was a nasty time we are both lucky

[@longlakeshore]

When I was a bio major at university in 1981 we debated in microbiology class whether this was an unknown virus or an unknown bacterium. The deaths from bacterial pneumonia cases indicated it was probably a virus since broad spectrum antibiotics were ineffective. If you think it took a long time to sort out covid it took forever to sort out HIV/AIDS. The virus wasn't isolated as the causal agent until May 1983 and the FDA approved blood test wasn't ready until May 1985. A half dozen guys I knew from high school & college years died in the epidemic.

[@Bigbopper01]

“What good are your civil rights if you’re dead” history repeats itself, over and over again.

[@reference2592]

The history of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats implying that civil rights are only allowed when you obey Big Brother?

[@HORSEYANIME2024]

Amen to that

[@DJ-bj8ku]

@@reference2592No, just simple common sense to protect yourself and others. Remember, you’re not the expert, infectious diseases specialists are.

[@reference2592]

@@DJ-bj8ku Just because you’re too lazy or uneducated to understand statistics and scientific papers doesn’t mean that everyone is. You can obey supposed “experts” to your heart’s content, but don’t expect others to be as weak and obsequious as you. If you’re not capable of making adult decisions for yourself, then perhaps your should be institutionalized or just indenture yourself to one of these “experts” you want to run your life for you.

[@Bigbopper01]

@@reference2592 WTF does an elected person have to do with disease management? When what you are doing is threatening the lives of innocent victims then you have crossed the line into losing your rights. Either through the legal system, or the regulatory system. Your might makes right worldview works well in Russia but not in America. That’s why we have nice things and they have potato.

[@mentalizatelo]

Here we are, 36 yrs later and the cure still haven't been found. Great treatments, yes, but not a cure.

[@INDREAMSBEGINSRESPONSIBILITIES]

Nothing but profits However scientists have become like politicians

[@cho7707]

Big pharma won't let that happen, although there are probably cures for most diseases.

[@amandaclark6841]

Because there is no money in finding / having a cure.

[@DBlake864]

Viruses are difficult to cure. Vaccines can be developed, but cures not so much.

[@mentalizatelo]

​@@DBlake864If you have a vaccine, you have a cure. Duh.

[@personaking7844]

GD may not have been patient 0, but he didn't help the AIDS explosion either .....

[@gigigiseleworld]

People in the 1970's didn't use condoms.

[@barneyronnie]

​@@gigigiseleworld Skin to mucous membrane feels ... ah, fabulous, darling, don't you think😮?

[@johnalbert6900]

GD was not labeled Patient 0 (Zero) but Patient O (Out of California Connection).

[@muffdiver240]

Actually, he apparently DID "help the AIDS explosion"... A LOT.

[@Jolene8]

@@gigigiseleworld They didn't in the decades before or after.

[@dhhenry7558]

I am very fortunate to be here today? This was the peak of my promiscuity. I was a male escort, male gigolo, male prostitute. Men, women; three four times per night, I was enjoying myself to its fullest. I moved back East from SF and had a lover who was a nymphomaniac and hung out in the bath houses and acquired AIDS? I thought to myself I survived the years in SF now I am going to get it from one person? But I never got it and that is almost 15 years now. At 66 though I have Cancer and have been fighting it for 26 months, I have very little fight left though. So AIDS didn't kill me but it looks like Cancer will. But I enjoyed life to the fullest and have no regrets?

[@dritemolawzbks8574]

Given the events you experienced first hand, your post was fascinating and inspiring until the bombshell at the end. I do genuinely appreciate your willingness to share your battle with cancer. It's easy for me and the rest of the KZbin to give you empathy platitudes about "thoughts and prayers," or demand that you must keep fighting without stopping treatment. I've never had a malignancy or experienced chemotherapy and radiation, but I've watched the debilitating toll chemo extracted on my love ones who survived cancer. Since you know your body better than anyone else, and will know when your quality of life deteriorates to the point that further treatment is futile, it's solely up to you regardless treatment options. It's not that you've survey me, but if you're at peace with a possible terminal condition and are physically and emotionally exhausted, then I support your decision. I frequently hear physicians claim that terminal patients are kept "comfortable" during palliative care, but when my time comes, I'm going out smiling and high on opioids.

[@dhhenry7558]

@@dritemolawzbks8574 Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, it is rare these days to have someone offer that because they are too busy..

[@dhhenry7558]

What is your opinion on writing a book about this period in my life? Or will the names and families in the end could be devasted? There are a number that would be no surprise, but naming many others might do unreconcilable damage that may never be resolved. And with Cancer taking its toll on me I don't ever think I will be here when it is printed, if that should happen? I have told some very close friends but not name dropping and they think I should do this? Or let sleeping/dead dogs lie?

[@amysill3815]

Find Jesus… he wants you to be with him in heaven for all eternity.

[@terryasberry8875]

So glad I got through it unscathed 🙏🙏 prayers for those who didn't

[@richardvergara]

Remember when AYDS was a chocolate appetite suppressive?

[@michaeltnewyorknights8413]

Yes!

[@im-gi2pg]

It literally ruined that name. I know all about names. My name is Isis.😂

[@didtydobble5446]

Thanks for this reupload.

[@frederickcombs8661]

Very few are living to share how terrifying it was and it went on seemingly forever.

[@cho7707]

It was a fucking nightmare.

[@georgevavoulis4758]

I remember being 18 when CBCnews Canada said "There's a gay plague killing gay men in New York and SanFransico

[@georgevavoulis4758]

It looked it would kill off every gay man on earth

[@mariusmatei2946]

Well, obviously, it had, first, appeared in the 1970s; I wonder if anyone who had got it then, was able to survive, and live through the 1980s, and into the 1990s, at the height of the AIDS crisis!

[@pbohearn]

I can what do you want to know?😊

[@davidpowellseattle]

This was a horrible time. I think about it and at that time, having a patient 0 was a way to get the public to recognize and accept HIV/AIDS. It seems like we need someone or something to blame. 60 Minutes did a good thing by elevating the story to a national audience. Scary and sad times. I lost friends and classmates.

[@EyeLean5280]

So sorry for your losses.

[@luciamacakova7516]

It does not matter who is a patient 0. Dugas was super spreader with his highly risky behavior. Just perfect example why this epidemy grew.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

But this report is just a TV version of Shilts's book. I read it and the talking points of his book are just what this CBS thing is based on. It is not a 100% accurate description of what was happening then.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

He did not do it all by himself. That is a silly idea. Just an easy Bad Gay Guy for Shilts to create.

[@harrybranches9586]

​@@luciamacakova7516 do you think Dugas was the only person being promiscuous at that time or before..I think it was completely wrong to blame one individual for the spread of such a deadly virus. It took 100 and 1000s of people for this to spread the way it did. Dugas was just another victim, he doesn't deserve to be labeled a super spreader or patient zero

[@happyclam1266]

The long incubation period of this disease is what really made it insane.

[@andyanderson6455]

I agree- it's so weird a "virus" has as long of an INC period, it's almost like it was "designed" to hide itself as to not reveal it's "Origin"........

[@scottw6704]

I was diagnosed in 2008, right after the wonder drug Atripla came out. To my memory, I had had unsafe sex in the late 80s (it was my first time, I was 17, from the country and hadn't learned about AIDS in school, not the best excuse but it's what happened) with an older man who would have been Dugas's age and was a frequent traveler to NYC and SF. I can't help but wonder how many degrees I am from Dugas himself.

[@pacskulls7757]

So you went all this time not knowing you had aids since you were 17 or you got it in 2008? Sorry just confused

[@abdosalem7358]

هل شفيت من المرض الأن ؟! 😮 ❤ لم نفهم ما تقول ؟!

[@Teeveepicksures]

Glad you're still here. Keep fighting, Scott. ❤

[@christinejackson3922]

I hope you are well

[@Biofeedback1975]

How is it possible for you to go undetected for over two decades ? And having no symptoms ?

[@kallyfest]

The sequencing of his DNA definitively demonstrated this in 2016. A genomic analysis of blood samples showed that the North American epidemic most likely began in New York in the 1970s, and that Gaëtan Dugas is therefore only a of the first cases among others of contamination in the United States, without being the cause

[@hansmir5443]

I remember in 1982 there was an article in SF chronicle with big letters AIDS. It was a terrifying time. I had just started dating then in the city. But thank God I was dating just one person for a while and he is still around today. 😊🙏🏼

[@dr.calebrobbins.3177]

This makes me very annoyed .. . Their language & mindset. They left thousands to die , would not treat... Reagan stopped Research funding. - A Disgrace !!!

[@NYNYRaider]

They later proved that he wasn’t “patient zero.” But he was certainly one of the reasons the disease spread so fast.

[@jedi1967]

“Did you tell him to quit this nonsense “ classic

[@aeroAdvocate]

He should have been locked up.

[@LaAngie.]

sadly didnt get to you @@user-fv3vq4qq7m

[@BoardroomBuddha]

Gay sex is "nonsense" but straight sex is fine... Harry Reasoner was one of many clueless homophobes of the times.

[@MsDiMera2]

I don't think he necessarily means gay sex is nonsense but promiscuity when you are ill is

[@JadoreLulu]

@@BoardroomBuddha I think he meant stop purposefully going around infecting others. Patient Zero seemed like a real POS.

[@househeadericmd]

The most powerful read and movie about the onset of the AIDS epidemic and how the medical field and the CDC could not get adequate funding and help for research. It was horrible. Over half my friends died of AIDS .

[@asoncalledvoonch2210]

They did it to themselves. Sounds harsh, but it's reality unfortunately.

[@jeffrichards7662]

@@asoncalledvoonch2210 You sound like a monster

[@TwinFalls88]

​@@asoncalledvoonch2210You can't say "they did it to themselves" ...when the disease wasn't even discovered, so how would they have known ? I mean, the generations after that tho....ya, they need to wake up. But that first wave of patients, couldn't have known. On the Upside : New studies have shown that good relationships with accepting parents decreases the risk of HIV in gay young adults, when parents are equipped with knowledge such as this and prevention strategies PrEP, condoms, fewer partners, avoiding hookup apps, dating nicer people. That works. The sad part is that many times glbtq youth are alienated from family and begin making bad, risky decision. Healing that rift and getting parents, families, schools all on board would go a long way to help young gay men avert these dangers

[@sahtification]

​@@asoncalledvoonch2210pls stay silent when you have nothing great to say

[@asoncalledvoonch2210]

@@sahtification I have plenty to say, and I'm free to speak whenever, wherever and however I want. Stop telling others what to do. That's stupid to try to tell others what to say or when to speak. Not me and not in this lifetime. Bet that. It's " not great " to you because the Truth is tough sometimes ain't it ? I've noticed that only liars and those who live in lies cannot stomach an ounce of truth. Truth is always considered hate only by those who hate the truth. Like you. But even though you were rude and nasty, I still wish you well and wish your family well too

[@kristineperdomo21]

the fact that he didn't care about getting anyone else sick Is disgusting

[@chrissmith1521]

you'r funny

[@nlm6176]

He didn’t care. I respect that he helped the CDC with research. Yet he fought kicking and screaming to give up his risky lifestyle. That is all documented by video and with medical professionals. His behavior was criminal.

[@toddjohnson5176]

​@@nlm6176 I completely. People think he's a hero. He's a murderer. Who knows how many deaths he was KNOWINGLY responsible for.There is a guy in in prison now named Darrell Rowe who is basically a reincarnation of this POS.

[@im-gi2pg]

There was a talented florist in my city who had aids and didn’t care who he gave it to. I think some guys just heard that and adopted it. In their life review they would have seen and felt all the suffering they caused.

[@DJ-bj8ku]

I was a reporter for a small newspaper in CT in the mid-1980s and residents of the town were terrified, thinking they could get it from sitting on a toilet seat. They also resisted the establishment of an AIDS house at first. I remember a member of the local health department looking sickly and having a persistent cough. He later showed up to my surprise on the AIDS quilt that was making its way across the country.

[@phil3924]

I was a kid at the time but it was scary to hear about. I don’t know anyone who got it or anybody who knew anybody who got it. Sexual degeneracy and promiscuity are a bad mix.

[@BritCrime_Central]

I usually do not comment but I've seen so many videos on this topic and its so sad to see how alot of the victims of this disease ended up. Alot of people are care free this days but this disease is still out there and yes there is treatment but it's not worth catching this disease if you can help it. In my opinion obviously. Sad! Take care everyone. Wishing you all good health in the new year.

[@nadiraslam5982]

Sad. There's a whole doc out there that debunks this. Randy was asked NOT to put this opening in his book which blames this poor guy for spreading HIV across the world. Poor guy was unfairly targeted.

[@oscarjimenez7685]

Poor guy?!?!? Have you lost your mind? This man infected -- intentionally or otherwise -- hundreds of gay and bisexual men. It's twisted people like you who try to rewrite history to protect the marauding, globetrotting, diseased, superspreader: Gaetan Dugas. No one, except liars, is buying the b.s. you're peddling. Nice try presenting your fake news rewrite here on KZbin. Your hero, Gaetan Dugas, was an absolute garbage example of a human being.

[@jm7804]

It's pretty clear now that he was not patient zero. It's also pretty clear that he accelerated the spread of the virus by having an excessive amount of sexual partners.

[@dawncarolus7579]

Although he was not patient zero, documentation shows that he was informed that he had the disease, and that he was passing it to others. He chose to continue infecting others. He was no saint.

[@getshorty7549]

This man was a flight attendant and highly, highly promiscuous and was an active and vigorous vector for the virus. Multiple health practitioners and even members of the CDC begged him to curtail his behavior but it fell on deaf ears.

[@mariusmatei2946]

Instead of searching the gay community for "who spread AIDS", they should have looked for how AIDS came to be, and where it came from (I mean, homosexuality has existed since forever, while, according to this program, AIDS has been around only since 1979; why AIDS? Why gay people? Why the 1970s?...); But, I guess, just like with COVID-19, it had been much easier to scapegoat "the other"!

[@EmoryStudy]

The journalist seemed so nervous around them 😂

[@Cdearle]

While some of the details in this more than 35 year old video have not stood the test of time, the fact is that AIDS was then a death sentence for most who contracted it. This by the way included Randy Schiltz who appears in this video and wrote the classic early study of the disease in America: ‘And the band played on’. Schiltz died of AIDS in 1994. Now, at least for patients in the developed West, AIDS is a manageable disease for which we can be thankful.

[@theoriginalbridgetconnors]

His name was Randy Shilts.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

I read that book. Informative, but agenda driven. He wrote it to be "action packed" but that gets in the way of describing the truth of the early days of HIV/AIDS. And who cared about Rock Hudson in the 1980s?

[@Goawaykidyoubotherme]

Lol. You mean none of it has stood the truth test

[@stella6051]

I wonder what ever happened to the chap who was interviewed as one of GD many lovers and had last seen him in 79... i wonder if he ever did get any symptoms 😢

[@barneyronnie]

No. He is still alive in SF...

[@stella6051]

@@barneyronnie that's great to hear, thank you for confirming x

[@__SAK__]

I wondered that too. I also didn't like how the narrator cut off what he was saying after learning Dugas told him he off to the baths.

[@sandracheeks1811]

Politics took priority over public health during Covid too. It usually does.

[@samsepiol05590]

Yup. And MAGA Republicans caused the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands

[@evverrette1]

i was past my wild stage by the time it arrived in Arkansas. it got a lot of boys i knew but it was nothing compared to stories i've heard about previous years in NYC

[@void________]

This is where American Horror Story, season 11 was based on. Really interesting how Murphy weaved paranormal horror with this real life horror.

[@nickhalsey9325]

A lot of comments focus on the patient zero aspect, which I understand as it is the title of the report. Yet what's powerful here are the claims that Randy Shilts makes about the government's refusal to permit more research funding, along with the government officials who were denied authorization to speak (in a democracy, that's very disturbing). We have to put this in it's time: Reagan was still in power. I know Shilts's claims are documented elsewhere, but at this point they were not "old news". He was speaking truth to power, as the best journalism does.

[@nsnopper]

The journalist is Harry Reasoner, who died in 1991.

[@weskitten]

This is a brilliant report. Many thanks for putting it up.

[@Goawaykidyoubotherme]

Too bad its been discredited and proved wrong

[@ijustamthem]

The research now shows that it actually arrived much sooner, in the 40s...

[@trnigyul]

"Randy Shilts, a gay himself....." 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@domodomo4032]

He would be cancelled today 😂😂😂

[@scottw6704]

"a gay" - I found that to be very weird wording too. When did gay become a noun?

[@rewash9053]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@brian-ld4vd]

It came from a monkey.

[@kalayne6713]

Got to remember this is an old documentary, but I felt weird hearing a man described as a 'gay'.

[@eugeniasyro5774]

My best friend, Reid Owens died of AIDS in 1987, at 24. Rest in peace. You are missed.

[@rightgirlhere]

Randy Shilts was an interesting journalist. I love that he has absolutely zero lisp!

[@barbaraedmonds8381]

You really said that.😮

[@musicsavage]

It has since been proved that Gaëtan Dugas was not the Patient Zero.

[@drpoundsign]

Not...Even...CLOSE. A plasma center in Haiti infected American Hemophiliacs, and a few of those Boys/Men would have also been Gay.

[@NoHomerS]

Practically speaking, it didn't matter. He was an evil man who intentionally killed other gays.

[@amuletk]

Did he spread it?

[@david.juillet]

​@amuletk Nearly 100 million people have been infected with HIV with over 40 million dead. I don't think he spread it that much.

[@drpoundsign]

@@amuletk NO Question he spread it!

[@paulomilan515]

There is no such thing as patient zero. He was merely very easy for the CDC to track being as though he was flight attendant and very sexually active. They were able to figure out how the disease was spread through him. If it weren't for him they would never of had a clear picture of how this disease behaved.

[@hrose5484]

All of this was sad.

[@karenashton5053]

I lost two very good friends to AIDS. It’s been 30 years and it still saddens me that neither family would admit it was AIDs. One man was gay one not but still carried the stigma.

[@kevinbetsy-w9424]

Two elderly people down the road from me have AIDS. One has a hearing aid, the other a walking aid

[@carlosrivas1629]

a slut is a slut, male or female.

[@carlosrivas1629]

still sucks.

[@npxmnpxm]

I remember my junior high school biology teacher showing this in class not long after it aired. I'd say it's aged remarkably well, certainly much better than I would have imagined for a Harry Reasoner piece.

[@randymillhouse791]

What do you call an Ape with a philosophy book? A Hairy Reasoner! Ah, the 1980's.

[@peteradaniel]

It’s aged terribly. Patient zero was a complete myth. HIV/ aids had been known in the United States since the 1950s.

[@Mr.Majestic77]

While Gaetano Dugas was NOT "Patient Zero", he was "Patient O" O as a few of many sources of recent "Outside" HIV infection outside of San Francisco. He definitely played a part in the spread of HIV but he was not the source cause of multiple HIV infections.

[@HoorayTV21]

Yeah, that's bullshit. That typo nonsense is waaAAAAAyyyyy stupid. "Oh yeah, he was totes just sposed to be an O guys, DUH!" This freak was giving people aids on purpose.

[@cor2250]

Zero was African ....testing kidneys from monkeys to African people ,a vaccine test with 1000 people and later more

[@gigigiseleworld]

The first HIV case was in 1968 #robertrayford . ...touch the hashtag

[@randomami8176]

It’s really inconsequential if the “0” is for zero (the beginning of) or “O” from an outsider of the infected area. I understand is the latter. But I do have problem with using this confusion as a mean to exonerate him of all charges. He was a promiscuous sex machine who infected millions directly or indirectly, purposely or not and gloated about it. Of course there were other “patients zero” who dispersed the disease globally and in the US specifically there are registered cases even BEFORE the 1980s as well as evidence of infection propagated by Haitian immigrants. Whatever the case it all goes back to unsafe sex and promiscuity. Sadly the thing didn’t stop there but moved on to hemophiliacs, women infected by their own promiscuous men and worst of all to babies. Oh the humanity!

[@Music-Is-Real-Love]

Thank you

[@getshorty7549]

This man was a flight attendant and highly, highly promiscuous and was an active and vigorous vector for the virus. Multiple health practitioners and even members of the CDC begged him to curtail his behavior but it fell on deaf ears.

[@smellsofcum]

Serves him right, what a dirty bandit

[@BoardroomBuddha]

Because the cause of AIDS at that time was still not clear. They had not discovered HIV virus yet. They only knew that people were dying of *cancers* like kaposi sarcoma, and they *suspected* it might be related to sex. Some people thought it came from poppers or cyotmegalovirus exposures. But doctors were not sure. So, they were telling Gaeten to stop having sex because he *might* be carrying a virus that doctors *couldn't* identify that gave people cancer. It was a far-fetched claim at the time. It turned out he was wrong to disregard them, but it is still understandable why he did. It was all conjecture...

[@toddjohnson5176]

​@@smellsofcum It infuriates me when people act like this scum is some hero or celebrity. He was TOLD to stop. He is a murderer responsible for who knows how many deaths. I'm not even a part of this community, and I hate the guy out of principle. He knew and only cared about himself.

[@caseylm100]

If u were gay in the 8Os u were required to have a mustache

[@brianal7143]

I don't understand how anyone could willingly sleep with hundreds of people in a year. That's insane

[@alexsky104]

Everybody is different and you shouldn't judge. You are probably insane for others in your personal unique way

[@kittygirl_thetortie498]

​@@alexsky104then they shouldn't play victim and seek sympathy when they get infected with the inevitable. Every action has consequences. Especially actions like having unprotected SI with everyone one exchanges glances with.

[@ericatheempress6698]

Me neither. If you live a high risk lifestyle use protection and get checked regularly for everything. I don't live a high risk lifestyle but I get checked for everything and happy to know my status. I'm clean and continue to have alow risk sex life.

[@brianal7143]

@@alexsky104 telling people not to judge is really a way to avoid accountability. People shouldn't participate in high risk sexual activity, this is common sense not judgement.

[@ushireborn]

​@@alexsky104just say you are one of those people. we get it.

[@elliebellie7816]

I remember the stigma especially when someone died. No obituary ever said s/he died from AIDS. It was always disguised as pneumonia or some kind of cancer or other type of cause.

[@estevancarlos]

What's interesting about this is that air travel is major contributor to the distribution of disease and illness. Something we really need to take seriously.

[@barneyronnie]

And The Band Played On😮

[@nolajacobs6730]

Its so sad. I still watch it from time to time.

[@najadea1382]

Just sad. We all have civil rights but how can you still be sexually active and expose other people when you know you have something. That was very selfish of that man

[@scottw6704]

Think of how many people who would still have sex after being told "no you can't have sex anymore". I don't know of any people, myself who would simply just stop.

[@zeddeka]

It's illegal in a number of countries now

[@zeddeka]

​@@scottw6704in several countries it's illegal to have sex with someone without informing them you have HIV. People who can't stop once they know they're a danger need to be locked up. Certainly in those days, it was a form of murder.

[@NoHomerS]

​@@scottw6704and all of them are selfish. We need to help the community, not infect it.

[@nathalie_desrosiers]

The thing is, he was told he had 'cancer'. And since cancer is not a STD, he did not think he was spreading it.

[@joshr9740]

Dude must be the ULTIMATE target for bug chasers 😅

[@rybock]

There have been later studies that indicate that Dugas, who passed in '84, was not "Patient Zero" or the source of it in America. For instance, a 2006 resurvey of blood samples for a Hep B study in '78-79... viruses change in a bit of a predictable rate, and looking at that, they found him not an origin, but part of the middle. As this report says, it was first "detected" in the early Reagan administration, but it appears to have been in NYC in '71 and SF around '74. The first article about it in the US was in '81, but the first case was likely in the US in '66. This guy happened to be part of a cluster that was studied, but very likely wasn't the cause as this report, as many did as well, says.

[@happyclam1266]

Seems like a better description of him would be superspreader. Like Typhoid Mary.

[@toddjohnson5176]

​@@happyclam1266Agreed. He should of been jailed like Darrell Rowe is now.He knew he was killing people and could care less.

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

We now know it is unfair to claim Gaetan Dugas was the "Typhoid Mary" of HIV/AIDS. Not just unfair, but if he had lived, he would have been justified in suing for libel. Of course, he would have never been identified by name and he would never have been treated as horribly as he was in death. The notion he was "Patient Zero" has been debunked by more recent authors on the epidemic. However, this report is historically important.

[@chrisfleischmann1346]

He wasn’t labeled as patient zero in the cluster study. It was the letter O, for “outside” as in outside of NY and SF. Shilts misinterpreted this and this wasn’t corrected for years and many still believe to this day that he was patient zero.

[@bertroost1675]

"sweet caring man" later "screw you" and walked out.

[@LMB222]

His right.

[@bertroost1675]

@@LMB222 Amazing.

[@sunilsameer1080]

Well he WAS talking to a woman when he said "screw you"

[@scottw6704]

I think most people are capable of being sweet and caring to people we are having sex with, and unpleasant to people who are trying to convince us to stop doing something we enjoy...

[@bertroost1675]

@@scottw6704 There's "something we enjoy" and then there is "something we are obsessed with". The obsessiveness of men in this way of life is well documented.

[@LoveCoffee123]

The dude, patient zero is the example of perfect storm

[@samsalamander8147]

The first person who was infected with HIV was probably infected in the Congo in around 1910, they were infected from eating infected bush meat(monkey meat).

[@scottjeune154]

They found aids going back to the midwest in 1969

[@pazza4555]

He wasn't really patient zero though.

[@corvetteddie]

I wouldn't believe this tv program if their tongues came notarized, they denied our pandemic came from that Chinese lab also

[@JeantheSecond]

The whole patient zero thing was based on a misunderstanding. He was patient O, as in the letter. He was not the first case of AIDS.

[@bayareaartist999]

He was patient "O" OWE not "0" not a zero. He was O. You know M,N,O,P, "O" stood for outside the United States. He became patient "0" zero by someone misreading a report.

[@penelopelgoss2520]

Good STRAIGHT accounting of the politics. 1982... 83... 84 ... 85... 86... 😢 I saw and experienced this epidemic firsthand. We, the Gay and Lesbian Communities, came together on fundraising, protests, doctors, and so many others, we rolled up our sleeves and began various organizations, groups, places for care and support and free condoms everywhere to spread the news, get tested, it's free and anonymous. Now, 2023, there's a pill, a shot, and no one cares. You can live with it now. 😢No one cares, seemingly of all the work done to research, and care... it was so sad. I lost all but two male friends.😢 They were lucky and cared as they were a monogamous gay couple. ❤

[@GeorgetteBu]

He looks just like a walking demon and took many lives down after being warned that his lifestyle was dangerous.

[@sisuguillam5109]

1. Don't be absurd. 2. He had no idea that he had an infection that could spread via bodily fluids. 3. He didn't continue having sex after being informed he was infected. Oh, and at that point? People had no idea how HIV spread.

[@YounghomieSmith]

This is making my skin crawl.

[@Norfnorf12]

So interesting seeing people react to Gaetan not wanting to abstain when people can’t even wear a mask without rioting in the streets.

[@aeroAdvocate]

Aids/HIV kills you (and others), and abstinence saves lives. What exactly does a mask or Covid do?

[@mycobrahatesyou]

Stopping sex stops aids. Wearing a mask does not stop the flu. Aids was killing at a massive %. The flue killed less than 99.9% Get a clue

[@dancalmpeaceful3903]

This guy was a SELFISH, sick individual. He passed it around callously...and he KNEW what he was doing. He didn't care.

[@needtoknowbasis3499]

You've described Trump

[@bonafidehomicide5742]

I'll bet that's quite the exaggeration. Could they even really prove to him at that point that he even had it? Or was it suspicion? And you know, it's exponential. He didn't sleep with ALL of those people. He slept with a few of those people, like we all do, and then THOSE people, infected other people. You don't get how viruses work yet?

[@oscarjimenez7685]

​@@needtoknowbasis3499Your Trump Derangement Syndrome is showing. If Donald J. Trump lives rent-free in your head, you need to find yourself a hobby, a part-time job, or a psychiatrist. Cheers!

[@davidmcmahon5809]

@@needtoknowbasis3499. You’ve described Biden.

[@carolynholody9281]

David McMahon5809- Your comment to needtoknowbasis is spot on! Not surprised that a libtard like that would compare Donald Trump to Gaetan Dugas.

[@PlasmaCoolantLeak]

I remember a story in the now-defunct California Magazine about "Patient Zero."

[@MB-xl8nx]

I feel sorry for the patients that contracted this disease through no fault of their own, such as a blood transfusion, which at the time, blood was not tested. But, you can’t expect to have sexual relations with many different anonymous partners and not expect to contract some sort of STD, especially when not using protection. Not even HIV/AIDS, any sort of STD. I think it speaks to the reckless behavior of people more than anything.

[@CroBer09]

👏👏

[@huascar66]

This has since been discredited.

[@CoCo-yv3hl]

You can’t convince me this wasn’t an experiment

[@ralex3697]

Definitely man made and placed into the gay population

[@marisafelletti]

Nemmeno per me è stato casuale

[@leonardol4745]

My brother almost succumbed to AIDS. He fought his way back. With the medications, and many years later, there is no trace of the Aids virus in his blood. I was lucky. I never contracted Aids.

[@theire483]

I was in high school when AIDS was rampant. They did some good work in tracking it down.

[@Goawaykidyoubotherme]

No. This was discredited and disproved long ago

[@jph4852]

Interesting that the term "Patient Zero" is a misunderstanding of the original meaning. The patient was actually code-named Patient O (letter "O"), not 0 (number "zero"), referring to the patient "out of California."

[@johnphillipstevensen3490]

Met a guy in Halifax, Nova Scotia about 25 years ago who knew Gaetan. Said he was very beautiful!

[@Sandi-ke9mi]

I worked on the aids ward in Los Angeles in the early 80’s. We lost so many wonderful, talented people. I also lost some very close nurse friends to the virus. 😢 Sadly they made Gaëtan the scapegoat for the illness. 😞 And there’s the Reagan administration again, popping up against healthcare and mental health.

[@henryjoshual1848]

yeah, sure....blame Reagan because of promiscuous gay men in LA bathhouses. that's HIS fault, right?? How much sympathy do you have for the innocent heteros who got HIV ?

[@davidmcmahon5809]

Yes of course. All those sex partners of Dugas didn’t get it from Dugas. They got it from Reagan. How stupid ass of you!

[@TomLloyd-18]

Reagan was actually even worse with the AIDS epidemic than tRump was with COVID. At least tRump started the ball rolling with the vaccine. Totally dropped the ball after that though.

[@johniii8147]

The really sad thing about him is WANTED to spread it. He knew what he was doing. That's well documented.

[@mizzury54]

I read the book and his attitude was atrocious.

[@johniii8147]

@@mizzury54 Agreed. The book was all very documented and actual notes of his comments not some made up stuff. This other documentary trying to clear his name was a bit ridiculous. It was people not wanting to believe it. He had some serious mental issues going on.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

As described by Randy Shilts. Who I don't believe %100...

[@sisuguillam5109]

No, it isn't.

[@RipperBravo]

Shilt’s theory has since been disproven and remember paper never refused ink.

[@jimm2434]

There’s been a story about that said they had the wrong patient zero.

[@philambrez]

I saw the original when it first came out. I was disgusted back then with this awful "news" story, and I'm still shocked seeing it again. To villainize a man who cooperated with the CDC every possible way he could, and then to have the CDC moniker him as "patient zero", claiming that he was THE person responsible for AIDS in Northern America is profoundly disturbing. "A victim and a victimizer..."? All he did was keep good records, so the CDC could use it for contact tracing. But, since HIPPA laws didn't exist back then, his anonymity was just casually thrown aside, so they could make him out to be a monster. The CDC had no idea how many other men (or women) had been transmitting the virus, who didn't keep as detailed logs as he did. So that's what a gay man got for cooperating with the CDC. BTW, the CDC didn't call it "AIDS" or "HIV" back then, they called it "gay cancer", as if cancer is specific to one's sexual orientation. This disgusting mischaracterization of Mr. "Patient Zero" Gaton is as reprehensible as "Typhoid Mary". Both stories make these two people go down in infamy forever, because they contracted a disease. And, for what?! How did destroying this man's reputation post-mortem serve any medical purpose?!

[@grioulaloula8594]

Learned more about this man through a documentary. Hopefully, people will know more about his story and realize that he was “helping” the CDC and not trying to spread the disease deliberately. Unfortunately, the term no good deed goes unpunished, applies here.

[@philambrez]

So sad, but true. @@grioulaloula8594

[@ignaciogomez3381]

I couldn' t agree more.

[@gillianomotoso328]

As if it was even cancer. My God.

[@NoHomerS]

Didn't that woman say that he didn't give a shit if he killed other people?

[@mccommas2]

Why did this come up when I am looking for the job they did on Diebold ballot counting machines?