The Curious Case Of Typhoid Mary

One of history's most famous infectious disease carriers Mary Mallon born in Cookstown, Ireland in 1869. She immigrated to America as a teenager in 1883 to seek her fortunes. Mallon found work in New York as a domestic servant and cooked for some of New York City's wealthiest families. In the summer of 1996 she was hired by Charles Henry Warren, a wealthy banker with a holiday home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. However their holiday quickly turned south when 6 of the 11 members came  down with typhoid fever victims. Victims of typhoid could suffer a fever, abdominal cramps, abdominal distension, intestinal hemorrhaging and in 10% cases of  death. The source of infection was the water and food contaminated with excrement. Today it's common knowledge to wash your hands after using the bathroom but back then that really wasn’t the case. Immunization wouldn’t roll out until 1911 and antibiotic  treatment wouldn’t become readily available until 1948. By 1907, in the New York area alone 3000 people had been diagnosed. It wasn't until the virus hit Oyster Bay where it affected the affluent that  it became mainstream news and so George Soper was hired by the Warrens to investigate and his search quickly led him to Marry Mallon. Her unlikely partner in crime was pitched ice-cream. The cold dish merely froze the ice cream with copious amounts of bacteria. Instead of burning them, which would have been the case in hot food as the investigation continued, Soper began snooping around Mary's employment history. He discovered that of the eight families she’d worked for seven of them came down with typhoid. Soper had a theory, maybe she was the first ever documented carrier of salmonella typhi. He would need proof Mary did not play ball constantly denying Soper stall samples. He eventually needed the help of the New York city health department and even the NYPD who didn't worry. She was not arrested, just held on a desolate island in isolation for two years. North brothers to be exact this was a bit of a moral quandary. There was an obligation to Mary’s human rights but also the obligation to the general public to keep them infection free. People have been held in quarantine before but only people who had clear signs of sickness Mary appeared perfectly healthy compromises were struck up. Doctors suspected the bacteria were coming from her gallbladder and offered to release her if they removed it. Mary refused that deal but promised she would never work as a cook again. Five years later, she broke that promise and remained at large until 1915. She infected 25 people at the Sloane maternity Hospital in Manhattan, infecting doctors, patients, and nurses two of whom died. The NYPD took her back to North brothers island again where she’d spend the rest of her life. Upon Mary’s death some 20 years later, the doctors seized the opportunity to inspect Mary’s gallbladder  and what they found was typhoid bacteria living in her remains. The case of Mary is a conundrum that still intrigues us today. Was she the villain or was she the victim were the authorities right to violate one woman’s individual liberties if it meant protecting the general population and could they have done more to educate Mary on the dangers of what she was doing. She died in 1938. It is estimated she infected 51 people during her lifetime.