Construções e redefinições: as toxoplasmoses

Abstract

This thesis has as object the process of redefinition of the disgnostic category infection/illness "Toxoplasmosis". It is a qualitative, inserted study in the field "science studies", of reformist critical boarding and empiricist-analytical nature. The line of intitled research is associated to it "Institutions, to know and practical in health" and to the project "the doctors and the science" of the Institute of Social Medicine of the University of the State of Rio De Janeiro. The units of analysis had been: 1) "involved Agents" in the production of the scientific knowledge in local level; 2) local normative Documents; 3) national and international normative Documents; 4) Institution: Laboratory To recognize of the Center of Biosciences and Biotechnology (CBB), of the State University of the Of the state of Rio de Janeiro North Darcy Ribeiro (UENF/Darcy Ribeiro). As research techniques had been used the etnografic observation, interviews and documentary research of scientific production. The estimated ones had been of that this redefinition is decurrent of a "construction" (Hacking, 1999; Latour, 1997, 2000, 2001) and carried through in a "transepistemic arenas" (Knor- Cetina, 1981). They had been increased to these concepts, of circulating reference (Latour, 2001) and of the taxonomy of the elements of objects of laboratorial science, that is, the concepts ideas , marks and things (Hacking, 1992). Considering this dynamics, the redefinitions in relation to this infection/illness would be in a period of little stabilization, even so they are not defined completely and perpetual for the dependence that possess of the "pack space-weather" (Latour, 2001) and of the "circulating reference".