Typhoid Mary

Mary Mallon became known as 'Typhoid Mary' because she was an asymptomatic carrier of the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. She unknowingly spread the disease to multiple people, resulting in several outbreaks and deaths.

Mary Mallon worked as a cook, primarily for wealthy families in New York City.

In 1906, a sanitary engineer named George Soper was hired to investigate an outbreak of typhoid fever in a household where Mary Mallon had been working. Through his investigation, Soper suspected Mary of being a carrier, and he eventually convinced her to give him stool and urine samples for analysis. The samples tested positive for the bacteria that causes typhoid fever, confirming her as a carrier.

After Mary Mallon was identified as a carrier of typhoid fever, she was forcefully quarantined by the New York City Health Department. She was kept in isolation for three years at a medical facility on North Brother Island, although she consistently refused to believe that she was a carrier or posed a threat to others. Eventually, she was released on the condition that she would not work as a cook again.

Yes, unfortunately, Mary Mallon did cause another outbreak of typhoid fever after her release from quarantine. She took up cooking again under a pseudonym, and her employment resulted in another outbreak that caused several illnesses and deaths. She was eventually caught and returned to quarantine, where she lived until her death in 1938.