A Vector in the (Re)Making: A History of Aedes aegypti as Mosquitoes that Transmit Diseases in Brazil

Abstract

In the histories of Zika, dengue, and yellow fever in Brazil, which span more than a century, the vector of these viruses, the black-and-white striped Aedes aegypti, has always been framed as the ‘epidemic villain’, as the assumed culprit and the target of governmental policies to control the pathogens it can carry. In this chapter, however, we examine the A. aegypti’s historical trajectory to show how, although there is a continuity in dominant designations of the mosquito as the villain, the epidemiological and political meanings of these virus-mosquito-human interactions significantly change over time. By juxtaposing the analysis of the making of the vector in three historical moments in Brazil as the A. aegypti carried three different viruses (yellow fever, dengue, and Zika), we highlight the importance of the virus-mosquito dyad in the making of the vector. Furthermore, we argue that the mosquito as a vector carried not only three epidemiologically distinct pathogens, but also very different political desires, struggles, and debates.