Back Indexpatient ALS المريض رقم صفر Arabic Klañvour kentañ Breton Cas índex Catalan Indekstilfældet Danish Index case DAG Indexpatient German Ασθενής μηδέν Greek Caso índice Spanish Nullpatsient Estonian
The index case or patient zero is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population,[1] or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study.[2] It can also refer to the first case of a condition or syndrome (not necessarily contagious) to be described in the medical literature, whether or not the patient is thought to be the first person affected.[citation needed] An index case can achieve the status of a "classic" case study in the literature, as did Phineas Gage, the first known person to exhibit a definitive personality change as a result of a brain injury.[3]
- ^ "Diseases – Activity 1 – Glossary, page 3 of 5". science.education.nih.gov. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
- ^ "WordNet Search – 3.0". Princeton University, wordnetweb.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ "Why Brain Scientists Are Still Obsessed With The Curious Case Of Phineas Gage". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2017.