''Killing Patient Zero'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by

Laurie Lynd Laurie Lynd (born May 19, 1959, in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter, best known as the director of the feature film ''Breakfast with Scot''. In his early career, Lynd made the short films ''Together a ...

and released in 2019. The film is a portrait of

Gaëtan Dugas Gaëtan Dugas (; February 20, 1953 – March 30, 1984) was a Canadian flight attendant incorrectly identified as "patient zero" during the AIDS epidemic. This narrative, popularized notably by Randy Shilts' 1987 book ''And the Band Played On'', ...

, the Canadian man who was one of the earliest diagnosed

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

patients in North America, but became incorrectly demonized as "

patient zero The index case or patient zero is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study. It can also refer to the first case of a condition or syndrome (not ...

" for the epidemic after his role in the early story of the disease was used to illustrate contact tracing in

Randy Shilts Randy Shilts (August 8, 1951February 17, 1994) was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both ''The Advocate'' and the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', as well ...

's 1987 book ''

And the Band Played On ''And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic'' is a 1987 book by ''San Francisco Chronicle'' journalist Randy Shilts. The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired i ...

''. The film premiered on April 26, 2019, at the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

. It was released commercially on July 26, 2019.Peter Knegt
"Killing Patient Zero: How a Quebec flight attendant was falsely accused of bringing AIDS to America"

CBC Arts CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, July 25, 2019.

References

External links

* 2019 documentary films 2019 films 2019 LGBTQ-related films Documentary films about gay men Documentary films about HIV/AIDS Films directed by Laurie Lynd 2010s English-language films HIV/AIDS in Canadian films 2010s Canadian films Canadian LGBTQ-related documentary films English-language documentary films English-language Canadian films {{2010s-Canada-documentary-film-stub