Typhoid Mary

Those in the food industry may well know the story of Typhoid Mary. The story goes that a young servant cook working for affluent families in New York City during the 1900s was the first individual in the United States to be identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. 

This young lady named Mary was healthy as could be but several outbreaks where people were infected with typhoid fever was present in the community. Mary was thought to have caused at least 51 infections and at least 3 deaths. The reason the bacteria associated with typhoid fever is also known as Salmonella typhi.

This should be a warning to all food servers. Many diseases that can be passed on by food handlers. 
Everyone should be considered the transmission of illness between sick food handlers and other food handlers. The food business is vulnerable if all the staff are off sick because one food handler spread germs to the co-workers.

This horrible event took place on March 27, 1915 in New York. The New York city health officials quarantined the 45 year old woman "Typhoid Mary" for the second time after a previous typhoid fever outbreak. The story of "Typhoid Mary" is well known but little is known about the life of Mary. 

Mary Mallon was born September 23rd 1869 in Cookstown, Ireland. It was among the poorest areas in Ireland. While Mary's story is well known she was not the most lethal carrier of the typhoid germ in New York City's history. 

Mary Mallon came to the United States alone to start a new life in 1883. At the age of 14 she moved in with her aunt and uncle Mallon would find work in America as a domestic servant. She found work in the kitchen and cooked for some of New York City's most elite families. These were the same individuals that Mary Mallon would get sick, those she cooked for

Mallon never experienced the symptoms of Typhoid fever. These symptoms included fever, headaches and diarrhea. It seems that Mary was immune to the disease but was a carrier of the illness. The family of the wealthy banker Charles Warren and his family would contact typhoid fever while vacationing The individual who owned the vacation home hired George Soper a freelance sanitary engineer to determine the cause of the Typhoid fever. Everything from the vacation house and plumbing to local shellfish supply was investigated with all coming up negative for the fever. The cook Mallon would be found to have typhoid fever and had also passed it to 7 other families as well. 

Mallon and her poor hand washing before handling food was found to be the culprit. The high temps needed to cook the food should have killed the bacteria the issue was how was the germs transferred. It was found to be the peaches in the ice cream. Mallon was arrested in 1907 and she was forced into confinement. Living this leper like life Mary would sue the health department for her freedom in 1909 but her petition was denied, that is until she hired a lawyer. It is believed that William Hearst helped bankroll the struggle to get Mary out of confinement. It was agreed to release Mary if she never cooked again and stayed out of the kitchen.

Mary did not keep her promise and this was noted with another typhoid fever outbreak in 1915. She was working at a Maternity Hospital and had been nicknamed "Typhoid Mary" Mallone had changed her name and was now Mary Brown and had worked under other names cooking at hotels, restaurants and institutions. She was recaptured and returned to the island to live as a leper. There she would live until her death in 1938, a some 23 years in isolation. 

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