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Paper short abstract

Examining Oropouche fever in Pernambuco, Brazil, this paper explores how time and surveillance shape the recognition of epidemics. As institutional monitoring stall

Paper long abstract

In this presentation, we explore time and surveillance as categories of power through the case of Oropouche fever surveillance—and its neglect—in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Endemic to the Amazon region, the Oropouche virus (OROV) spread southward in 2024, affecting populations in the Northeast and Southeast regions of the country and appearing in the first documented cases of vertical transmission. Transmitted by biting midges locally known as maruim, the virus profoundly disrupted everyday life as fetal losses interrupted families’ plans for parenthood. Yet the characteristics of Oropouche fever did not mobilize a strong public health response. Unlike Zika, dengue, and other arboviruses circulating in the region, the disease was not declared a health emergency, and surveillance infrastructures remained largely inactive. In this context, affected families and communities began to track symptoms, pregnancies, and losses among themselves, developing informal practices of anticipation and vigilance. For the first woman to lose her baby to OROV, monitoring the emergence of new suspected cases became a way of making sense of her own loss and warning others. By examining these community practices alongside institutional surveillance systems, the paper highlights the tensions between participatory and state-based forms of monitoring and asks how different temporalities of evidence, care, and anticipation shape the recognition—or neglect—of emerging diseases.