patient zero

patient zero

1. The first person to exhibit symptoms of an illness. The phrase originated during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. My daughter was patient zero, the only one with a cold last week—now, she's very generously given it to the rest of the family.
2. By extension, the first case of or person demonstrating a particular issue or problem. This guy is patient zero for the crashing issue in the app, so let me see what he said in his original email.
See also: patient, zero
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • (a) method in (one's) madness
  • (a) method to (one's) madness
  • all quiet on the Potomac
  • deal (one) out of (something)
  • deal out of
  • all quiet on the Western Front
  • all things to all men, to be
  • ball's in your court, the
  • the ball is in court
  • the ball is in someone's court
References in periodicals archive
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the late Adadevoh is credited with having curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the patient zero, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine in spite of pressures from the Liberian government.
The postdelivery protection mechanism "Patient Zero Detection" is now patented across Europe, as is Retarus' Bot-Net Detection.
Much of the criticism leveled at Shilts is for his treatment of the so-called Patient Zero, a patient initially targeted as the one responsible for spreading AIDS in the U.S.
So, with no real idea of what he was up against, Peter headed to Zaire to hunt for patient zero.
The other is Dead Exposure: Patient Zero, which drops you in a chaotic Paris in 1982 where hordes of flesh-eating zombies are swarming the streets.
- HITMAN Game of the Year Edition Content Four missions from the Patient Zero Campaign, three themed Escalation Contracts that unlock three unique weapons, as well as the Clown Suit, Cowboy Suit and Raven Suit from the recent Game of the Year Edition digital release
which other assets are part of the attack) and who is the 'patient zero' (where the attack originated).
That individual turned out to be "patient zero" in a varicella outbreak in the facility, even though the person's lesions had been covered by gauze and clothing at all times.
"Hitman - GOTY Edition" includes the complete first season, the brand new Patient Zero campaign, new Escalation Contracts, new weapons, suits and challenges.
Let's start with "patient zero" in this political plague: Rupert Murdoch.
Researchers are struggling to try to find early traces of WannaCry, which remains an active threat in hardest-hit China and Russia, believing that identifying "patient zero" could help catch its criminal authors.
The siblings describe themselves in jest as 'patient zero,' the first patient in a medical experiment.
HIV came to New York City between 1969 and 1973, long before the man known as Patient Zero became infected, researchers report in the Nov.
In a strip subtitled "Who Monitors the Monitors?" (an apt reference to the graffitied dictum in Watchmen [1986-87], Alan Moore's commentary on contemporary anxieties), the proprietor of a comics and internet shop advises an exasperated patron, "You must steel yourself against the internet," moments before that patron is literally overcome by the black cloud, becoming patient zero in an internet-zombie army.