“Human pincushion”? Children in Zika virus science produced in Recife/PE

Abstract

In the Covid-19 virus pandemic, new pathological phenomena aroused surprise, horror and curiosity. The same happened with a previous epidemic, that of the Zika virus, between 2015 and 2016. Virus, vector, pregnant woman, fetus - to reach this correspondence, a “scientific intensive” took place. Dozens of scientists rushed to Recife/PE, the epicenter at the time, and transformed the affected children into the main research subjects. In 2018, I interviewed 13 Zika scientists. In 2021, I read their 36 scientific published articles, following the question: where and how do the children appear? As content, I propose an ethnographic reading of these articles that, even if standardized, synthetic and hermetic, still reveal information between the lines. As form, I propose a literary experiment, following the sections commonly found in these articles. Through these clues, content and form, and with the help of contemporary Anthropology of Science, I suggest an analysis of the scientific meetings during the Zika epidemic there in Recife.