新冠疫情期間，媒體曾經報導「廣州零號感染源，疑透過餐廳空調傳播」，之前媒體也常出現「零號病人」之類的報導，諸如：「義大利 0 號病人出院，遭起底竟是......」，「紐約確診人數近6萬，……零號病人出院」。
所謂「零號病人」，就是台灣平常我們說的「首例」。如：「台首例武漢肺炎病患出院」，【獨家專訪】台灣首例武漢肺炎確診個案治癒過程！
「零號病人」英文叫 patient zero 或 index case，其實就是某個國家／地區第一個列入紀錄的案例。關於 index case，Wikipedia 的定義如下：
Photo/Graphic courtesy of Bookman l 圖片:書林
The index case (sometimes referred to as patient zero) is the first documented patient in a disease epidemic within a population, or the first documented patient included in an epidemiological study.
為何第一個案例會說成patient zero？BBC 有一則關於新冠肺炎的報導裡提到它的由來：
愛滋病流行期間意外創造了「零號病人」一詞。80年代初期，美國美國疾病管制與預防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)的研究人員調查愛滋病在洛杉磯和舊金山的傳播時，以英文字母O來指「加州以外」(outside of California) 的某個案例。其他研究人員誤將這代表外州 (outside) 的字母“O”，解讀為數字“0”，因此「零號病人」的說法就這樣誕生了。
…patient zero is a term used to describe the first human infected by a viral or bacterial disease in an outbreak…. Whilst investigating the spread of the disease…researchers…used the letter “O” to refer a case of someone “outside the state of California.”
Other researchers wrongfully interpreted the letter as a number 0 – and so the concept of patient zero was born. (Fernando Duarte, BBC, February 24, 2020)
在台灣，我們的日常生活中也出現類似的例子：很多人以為「OK 便利商店」英文唸作OK Convenience Store，其實在美國叫Circle K，Circle K Stores, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. 我們則是化「零／圈」為字母O！
文章由書林出版公司提供：
www.bookman.com.tw
蘇正隆 — 台灣翻譯學學會前理事長、師大翻譯研究所兼任副教授; 編著《英語的對與錯》，《世紀病毒：必讀防疫英文知識與詞彙》...等
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