Mosquitoes as technologies for airborne diseases control

• In Event: Animals and Technology Around the World, Past and Present 1

Abstract

The Aedes aegypti mosquito has lived in Brazil since colonial times and it enables the circulation of viruses that affect human health, such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Over the years, various vector population control practices have been employed: mechanical, biological and chemical techniques. These techniques traditionally place vector control, monitoring and surveillance as their central issue.
This work presents an analysis on recent controversies over techniques used in the control of Aedes aegypti, which gained a greater dimension during the Zika outbreak in Brazil (2015/2016) and particularly during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It was a moment of reappraisal of strategies and technologies available, nationally and internationally, which allowed open debates on old and new technologies and influenced the research agenda internationally and in Brazilian institutes, such as Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
Special attention will be given to the controversies that appeared related to the use of two new technologies in Brazil, both products of biotechnoscience: an OGM-mosquito and a mosquito contaminated with a bacteria (which can be called a biological control from within). These new technologies changed the relationship human-mosquito-microorganism as they use mosquitoes (and bacteria) as a technology, transforming them into would-be allies. The analysis will follow and observe these new techniques, using a sociotechnical approach inspired by the constructivist ideas and local, situated, anthropophagic knowledges. It will comprehend how, locally, these techniques incorporate elements of the biotechnoscience and environmental discourses as well as the bioethical questions they arise.

Authors

• Claudia Santos Turco, HCTE-UFRJ / FIOCRUZ

• Eduardo Nazareth Paiva, EDUARDO NAZARETH PAIVA