During 1998 I accompanied a cultural communication network in the production of epidemiological data, which used an ethnographic approach to studies of science. Inserted in the daily activities of an epidemiological research group, I registered some aspects of the scientific production process, such as the strategies and negotiations involved in the maintenance and circulation of the data produced. This paper describes the trajectory of epidemiological research and the interaction network of its actors, including the participation of technicians in the negotiation of the scientific practices. In addition to highlighting the continuous activity of negotiation and transformation of epidemiological data and information, I analyze the separation of science and politics or of nature and culture-society, and emphasize the collective participation in the process of scientific production.
anthropology of science; epidemiology; scientific practices; mediation activity