James Ross/AAP August 14, 2020 Finding the source of an outbreak is important. But the term ‘patient zero’ is a problem Adrian Esterman, University of South Australia A night manager at one of Melbourne’s quarantine hotels has been designated as “patient zero” in Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19. Here’s what that actually means.
Cholera would often turn its victims’ skin a bluish grey. Wellcome Collection May 19, 2020 The eerily similar pandemic we could have learned from but didn’t Chris Wilson, University of East Anglia There is a sad precedent of pandemic disease threatening the residents of care institutions – and of authorities not heeding the dangers.
Stigma. Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock April 1, 2020 Patient zero: why it’s such a toxic term Richard McKay, University of Cambridge Why we should wash our hands of this unhealthy phrase.