Cultural interpretations of contagion

Anthropological research in recent years has examined how single diseases s uch as Aids, tuberculosis, measles, malaria and leprosy are conceptualized by laypersons in non-Western societies. But how is disease transmission its elf interpreted in other cultures! Data from ethnographical studies in Cote d'Ivoire and the Afro-Brazilian culture in Bahia, Brazil show that the int erpretations of contagion and preventive practices cut across society invol ving five main relationships: empirical and analogical thinking, symbolic f actors and social organization, the concept of person and body elements, na tural and supernatural powers and individual and contextual factors. There is not a general theory, such as Pasteur's theory of germs. Instead, contag ion presents itself as a transversal, multidimensional concept crossing and interconnecting society and culture. Public health programmes aimed at con trolling infectious diseases need first to understand how contagion is conc eptualized by laypersons, the extent to which diseases are considered infec tious and the relation between perceptions and preventive practices. This w ould help in implementing infectious disease control programmes within loca l contexts based on meaningful community participation.