TheMaterialismofBiologicalEncounters 131
exhibited in this otherwise inconsequential "epidemic," can also be
tracedbacktovariousdiseasecrazesthateverynowandthenexcitethe
public only to disappear a little while later.^83 Not so long ago, FOX
NEWS Latino capitalized on the superbug thrill in its coverage of
Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis), a little-known infectious
disease once endemic to remote and poor rural areas of Latin America
but now also popping up in southern Texas and other places near the
U.S.-Mexican border. Chagas Disease is transmitted by blood-sucking
insects which the media have adroitly termed "kissing bugs," a
subfamilyofblood-suckinginsectswhichexperts(allegedly)identifyas
the up-and-coming "new AIDS of the Americas" ("Chagas Disease: A
New Global Pandemic" n. pag.).^84 In all fairness, it must be admitted
that not all media coverage of (possibly) epidemic diseases is driven by
the"youmustgetitoutfirst"principle.Evenso,theWHOhasrecently
tabulated that 75 per cent of relevant information in this area is not
coming from governments or medical experts but from the media (qtd.
in Garrett 88)—which once again tells us that the public presence of
medical mass events is in fact determined less by medical than by
cultural factors. The agenda-setting function in question here has come
todeterminehealthcommunicationingeneralandisalsoacrucialfactor
in the overall commercialization of medicine and medical treatment, a
salient factor of U.S. culture (Clarke, "Rise of Medicine" 111-13;
(^83) It is a generally accepted assumption in the social sciences that in the public
sphereofmodernsocietiesthemediadopossessthepowertomakesomeissues
more urgent than others. Quite some time ago, Maxwell E. McCombs and
DonaldL.Shawpresentedempiricaldatainsupportofthis.Thecrucialpointof
theiranalysisforthepresentcontextisthatthroughthemedia"readerslearnnot
only about a given issue, but also how much importance to attach to that issue"
(176).
(^84) "Symptoms of the disease range from those similar to those of the flu in the
acute stage to major problems with the nervous, digestive and cardiovascular
systemsinlaterstages.Onceinfected,thediseasecangounnoticedforyears,or
even decades and can cause undetected damage to the heart, intestines and
esophagus. Cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias caused by the disease can
eventuallybefatal"("ChagasDisease:ANewGlobalPandemic?"n.pag.).