Typhoid+Mary



__Was it lack of Education or was it on purpose?__


 * Biography**

Mary Mallon (A.K.A Mary Brown or Typhoid Mary) was born in Cookstown, Ireland on September 23rd, 1869. Mary was the first healthy Typhoid carrier caught by the government who infected and killed people. Poverty forces Mary to emigrate to New York at age 15 in 1884; New York was where she would find a career as a cook and unknowingly spread Typhoid fever, Mary worked in the New York City area from 1900 - 1907. When the autopsy was performed on Mary’s body they found the bacteria for Typhoid fever was in her gallbladder, the doctors believe that Mary’s mother contracted Typhoid fever during her pregnancy and this is how she became immune to the fever.
 * Family Background/ Early Life**

**Typhoid Fever** Also called typhoid. an infectious, often fatal, febrile disease, characterised by intestinal inflammation and ulceration, caused by the typhoid bacillus, which is usually introduced with food or drink. It is believed that individuals can develop typhoid fever after ingesting food or water contaminated during handling by a human carrier. The human carrier is usually a healthy person who has survived a previous episode of typhoid fever yet who continues to shed the associated bacteria, Salmonella typhi, in feces and urine. It takes vigorous scrubbing and thorough disinfection with soap and hot water to remove the bacteria from the hands.

**Influences** Mary wasn’t influenced by anyone but there were other serious cases similar to hers roughly 20 years later. Alphonse Cotils, who worked as a restaurant and bakery owner; Cotils was presumed to have infected 36 people with 2 deaths. Tony Labella was also a healthy carrier of the Typhoid fever. Tony was an Italian migrant who infected 122 people with 5 deaths, compared to Mary’s 53 infections and 3 deaths. Both Cotils and Labella were isolated but only for a short time as the government realised they couldn’t contain all of the healthy typhoid carriers.

**Career/ Occupation** Mary started her first job as a cook in 1900, she worked in a house in Mamaroneck, New York. Within 2 weeks of working at her first house the residents contracted typhoid fever. Mary then moved to Manhattan in 1901 and the same happened again, the family members were getting fevers and diarrhea, but this time the laundress died. Mary moved on again and went to work for a lawyer, she infected 7 of the 8 house members but took care of them worsening the fever and spreading throughout the household further. Mary's next job was at Oyster Bay, Long Island which she accepted in 1906. 2 weeks into the job 6 of the 11 household are hospitalised due to typhoid fever. Once again Mary changes jobs three more times, similar sickness' happen. A curious George Soper, a typhoid researcher, meets up with Mary and talks about her possible role in the spreading of typhoid, Mallon rejects Soper's request for urine and stool samples. George later publishes a report - //Journal of the American Medical Association// - in June, 1907. Soper repeated tries to convince Mallon to have tests done but she denies that she is a carrier of typhoid. Mary was finally told by Soper that she was a healthy carrier of the typhoid pathogen, lots of prejudice against Mary's class (lower) and ethnicity (Irish were thought of as "slum-dwelling" immigrants and not respected) was a major cause for the treatment of Mary.

Mary had very little achievements as she was never married, never had kids and didn't do anything heroic; but Mary did manage to cause a mass infection of Typhoid fever around New York which causes 53 infections and 3 deaths in total.
 * Achievements**

Mary still believed she had done nothing wrong and was being persecuted because of this. The New York City Health Department were positive Mary was a healthy carrier of typhoid and sent Dr. Sarah Josephine Baker (who later wrote a book mentioning Mary's case) to talk to Mary, several days later Dr. Baker was back again but this time with several police officers to take Mary into custody. Mary was isolated on North Brother Island in a clinic. A couple of years later the New York State Commissioner of Health, Eugene H. Porter (M.D.), declared that no more healthy disease carriers would be isolated, so long as they abandoned any jobs handing food, to prevent spreading typhoid to others. Mallon agreed on the 19th of Feburary 1910 that she was prepared to give up being a cook and would take saftey precautions to help prevent the spread of the infection, Mallon was then released to the mainland and became a laundress. Mary adopted the pseudonym Mary Brown to become a cook again, because laundress' were paid lower wages. 1915 it all started again with Mary infected another 25 people and 1 death while working at the Sloane Hospital for Women, New York. Public health authorities found, arrested and quarantined Mary on North Brother Island on March 27, 1915. Mary was isolated for the remanding years of her life and became a minor celebrity, being interviewed by journalists. Mary was later allowed to work as a technician for the Island's laboratory.
 * Quarantine**

**Death** Mary was isolated in quarantine for the remaining years of her. In 1932, 6 years before her death, Mary was paralysed by a stroke but she passed away at 69 years old from pneumonia. They performed an autopsy on Mary’s body and then she was cremated; her ashes buried at Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.

**Legacy/ Impact on History** Mary was the first healthy typhoid carrier identified by medical science, then this was found out there were no policies providing guidelines for handling healthy carriers. Most of the trouble from the case came from the fact she denied being a healthy carrier of typhoid and didn't accepted the connections between her work locations and the locations of typhoid outbreaks. Back in the early 1900's people didn't grasp the concept the people could be healthy but also carrier a pathogen or bacteria that would harm others, this was the case with Mary; she quotes "i am perfectly healthy, i have never had typhoid fever, and could not be the source". The Public Health authorities decided permanent quarantine was the best option for Mary so she couldn't cause further outbreaks. Today the term 'Typhoid Mary' is applied to computer users who spread dangerous computer software to others. Typhoid Mary also inspired the name for the hip-hop group named 'Hail Mary Mallon', a popular group in New York. Typhoid Mary is now used as a generic term for a healthy person carrying a dangerous pathogen, especially people who refuse to cooperate to minimise risk of spreading - just like Mary Mallon.

**Timeline** **1869** - Mary Mallon born, Country Tyrone, Ireland **1884** - Like many Irish women poverty forces Mallon to emigrate to the United States **1900 to 1906** - Mallon works as a cook in New York City. At her places of employment (private homes), Mallon unknowingly infects two dozen people with typhoid. **1901** - Manhattan. Member's of Mallon's employer's family and her coworkers develop fevers and diarrhea. One laundress dies. **1906** - Long Island. Within two weeks of hiring Mallon as a cook, fourteen of twenty family members are ill with typhoid. Mallon quickly leaves the position. She is eventually identified by George Soper as a healthy carrier. **1908 to 1911** - Mallon is quarantined on North Brother Island at Riverside Hospital. She is released after some media attention and after she gives her promise not to work in the food industry. **1915** - Mallon returns to working as a cook. Using the pseudonym "Mary Brown" she is hired at the Sloan Maternity Hospital in New York. Twenty-five people are infected, two die. Mallon is returned to quarantine on North Brother Island. **1915 to 1938** - Mallon remains in quarantine for the rest of her life. She has her own cottage, makes her own meals, is occasionally interviewed by reporters and works as a lab assistant for a time. **1938** - November 11th: Mallon dies of pneumonia. An autopsy reveals live typhoid bacteria in her bladder.


 * Map ~**


 * Primary Sources**

Source 1:

Source 2:



Source 3

Through these sources there are perspectives of the doctors, Newspaper writers and editors, as well as Mary herself. In the first source, it is shown on the medical report card that many tests had been done by many different doctors to ensure they had the correct results - that Mary was positively test for Typhoid. The second source is of the bias views of the newspaper writers and editors, shedding Mary in a bad light when she did not undertand her actions at the time, this is where she was first given her iconic name 'Typhoid Mary'. The third source depicts Mary's mood, by her facial expression. She looks bored and unimpressed, her mood was caused by the fact that she couldn't control her actions at first because she was unaware of them but when she went back to work as a cook and infection and killed more innocent people she was made to be in quarantine for the remanding years of her life, which was ended by a stroke and pneumonia.
 * Discussion**


 * Picture Gallery**


 * Recommended Reading List**
 * __Who was Typhoid Mary?__ ~ [] - This website provides a detailed outline of Mary's life, it is short but informative.
 * __Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary)__ ~ [] - This website is a PDF download, its goes into a paragraph of depth about the case against Mary.
 * __The Curious Case of Typhoid Mary__ ~ [] - This website is also a PDF, it provides a very detailed description of Mary (Appearance and all) it was written by George Soper, a sanitation engineer who discovered Mary as a healthy typhoid carrier.
 * __Typhoid Mary: Villian or Victim?__ ~ [] - This website has lots of primary and secondary sources about Mary, her work and typhoid.
 * Bourdain, Anthony (2001) __//Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical//.__ - The book by Bourdain (a cook himself) tries to retell the story from the cooks perspective, it uses slight humor and does give you a small perspective of Mary's career, but has little to no evidence.
 * Baker, Josephine Sara (1939) ~ __//Fighting for Life//.__ - This book is a good resource for the reason why they captured Mary and isolated her, but not another perspective of Mary's life.


 * Activities**


 * Activity 1 ~ Crossword**


 * Activity 2 ~ Word Search**


 * Activity 3 ~ Word Unjumble**

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 * Activity 4 ~ Quiz**

1. Why did Mary change her last name to Brown? 2. Was Mary born with Typhoid Fever? 3. Where was Mary Born? 4. How many people did she kill? 5. Where was Mary quarantined? 6. Was Mary Buried or Cremated and then Buried? 7. Did Mary know she had Typhoid fever?


 * Activity 5 ~ Paragraph of Perspective**

After reading this website - http://www.wisegeek.com/who-was-typhoid-mary.htm Write down a paragraph of what you think Mary's rections were to the current events happening to her.

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 * ANSWERS!**

Created by Allison Brown