“Response at the scientific level”

writing in the social sciences and biomedical sciences based on the Zika virus epidemic in Recife/PE, Brazil

Abstract

The Zika virus public health emergency, which began in 2015 in the northeast of Brazil, had its epicenter in Recife/PE. In the capital of Pernambuco, the configuration of this complex event culminated in a marked scientific mobilization of various areas of knowledge. As a result of a commission from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the biomedical sciences were tasked with providing answers to the international scientific community to explain the exponential growth in the number of children born with microcephaly and other diseases. On the other hand, the social sciences accompanied mothers, caregivers and children affected by what was later understood to be Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome (CZS). This paper aims to focus on one side of this scientific response, which is the writing and publication of articles. In this article, I draw on theoretical references from the Social Studies of Science and Technology, as well as textual criticism in the social sciences. Through anthropological and ethnographic research, I analyze the accounts of scientists who worked during the epidemic and excerpts from their published scientific articles. These procedures reveal the communication of science results as an activity which was constituted by aspects such as collective work in research groups; accelerated publication in times of urgency; the definition of journals for the dissemination of results; biomedical rationalities that were not very evident in the writings and political engagements with associations of mothers of children with Zika.