patient zero
词源说明
Originally patient O (standing for out of California), referring to Gaëtan Dugas, a superspreader of AIDS who was at the time erroneously believed to have introduced the virus to the United States. The letter O was later misinterpreted as a zero.
释义
名词noun
- 1(epidemiology) The initial patient in the population of an epidemiological investigation.
- 2figuratively, informalThe source or origin of something.