March 27: On This Day in World History … briefly
1915 – Typhoid Mary, first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the US placed in quarantine for the second time
Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), also known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish cook believed to have infected 51 people, three of whom died, with typhoid fever, and the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the disease. Because she persisted in working as a cook, by which she exposed others to the disease, she was twice forcibly isolated by authorities and died after a total of nearly three decades in isolation. From 1900 to 1907, Mallon worked as a cook in the New York City area for seven families. In 1900, she worked in Mamaroneck, New York, where, within two weeks of her employment, residents developed typhoid fever. In 1901, she moved to Manhattan, where members of the family for whom she worked developed fevers and diarrhoea and the laundress died. Mallon then went to work for a lawyer and left after seven of the eight people in that household became ill.
In August 1906, Mallon took a position in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and within two weeks 10 of the 11 family members were hospitalised with typhoid. She changed jobs again, and similar occurrences happened in three more households. She worked as a cook for the family of a wealthy New York banker, Charles Henry Warren. When the Warrens rented a house in Oyster Bay for the summer of 1906, Mallon went along, too. From August 27 to September 3, six of the 11 people in the family came down with typhoid fever. The disease at that time was ‘unusual’ in Oyster Bay, according to three medical doctors who practiced there. Mallon was subsequently hired by other families and outbreaks followed her.
Mallon spent the rest of her life in quarantine at the Riverside Hospital. Six years before her death, she was paralysed by a stroke. On November 11, 1938, she died of pneumonia at age 69. A post-mortem found evidence of live typhoid bacteria in her gallbladder. Other researchers have cited George Soper who wrote ‘There was no autopsy’ to assert a conspiracy to calm public opinion after her death. Mallon’s body was cremated, and her ashes were buried at Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
To receive our FREE email newsletter, click HERE
