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Science in Public 2017
Panel 27 - Animals in Public: Care, Charisma and Knowledge
Spot the microbe! Living landscapes in the context of contagious outbreaks
What do we mean when we say that Africa is Ebola-free today? Outbreaks such as the last Ebola
outbreak, zika virus, or avian flu are examples of “emerging infectious diseases”, this is, infectious
microorganisms which had not been a problem for public health until very recently. Most of these
health emergencies are caused by microorganisms whose life-cycle also implicates other
domesticated animals and wildlife such as mosquitoes, pigs, birds, bats or dogs. But we may need
to wonder how these contagious microbes, and the “vector” animals that supposedly act as disease
reservoirs, are constituted and utilised in the public sphere.
Several controversial questions come to mind, which are often taken for granted in outbreak control
protocols and mass media representation. Some correspond with long-lasting taxonomic debates
among natural scientists: is a microorganism, especially a virus like Ebola, defined as an animal?
Others present new unknowns, often the subject of media controversies and tales of contagion, but
also new perspectives to position research: where does Ebola hide before it strikes again? Much of
our current outbreak control expertise fits around the notion that emerging infectious diseases can
be predictability located within specific “hotspots” and animal reservoirs around the world, where
human (and animal) living conditions are optimal for the materialisation of contagion. If we spot these
hot zones, will we then be able to predict where the next deadly infection will most likely occur?
This piece offers an opportunity to critically ask ourselves: can we find microorganisms outside the
microscope? If they are thought of as living organisms, and if they—and we—are living (in)
entanglements between societies and nature, we may also consider searching for them in the public,
searching them in and within landscapes. Representations of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa will
be the main guide in this enquiry, however other microorganisms might contribute to this
topographical rethinking of infectious disease. By using a collection of photographs obtained from
online Spanish media, we may be able to observe microbes in “lively landscapes”.
Author: Cristina Moreno Lozano
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MSc in Medical anthropology and Global Health at University Rovira i Virgili /University of Barcelona
(2015-2017), and BSc (Hons) in Biomedicine (Infectious Disease) at University of Edinburgh (20102014).
She has done research in statistical epidemiology of vector-borne tropical diseases. Her current
research project consists on an study of the rational use of antibiotics in Catalan society. In the past
she has collaborated with several British and European civil society organisations as an advocate
and activist for universal access to medicines, and alternative R&D systems to develop new
medicines.
Her research interests include epidemiology, pharmaceuticals, anthropology of infectious diseases,
history of science, and evolutionary sciences.