The Lives of ‘Facts’: Understanding Disease Transmission Through the Case of Haemophilus influenzae type b Bacteria

This article studies how our understanding of disease transmissionhas evolved over time from the public health perspective. The mainquestion is: What happens to ‘facts’ in the course of their lifehistory? How do they lead their lives? The concept captures theprocess that shapes the facts of disease transmission, mobilisesthem via mathematical and graphical representations and allowsthem to evolve and change over time. So what is actually behindthis concept? In my elaboration, the concept of life history providesnot only analytical but also a metaphorical framework that leads usto follow the development and changes in terms of the phases inlife of ‘facts’: Birth and youth, adulthood and reproductive years,seniority and passing away. Since disease transmission is not asingular ‘factual entity’, but a bundle of ‘facts’ binding togetherknowledge of the disease, its transmission routes, andsusceptibility of the population, the particular analytical focus is onhow these ‘facts’ are disseminated via mathematical, graphical andmodel-based representations. Just as life histories are stories full ofinteractions, surprises and struggles, this article shows theunderlying contingencies in the dissemination and accumulation offactual knowledge.[...]