the incredible and sad story of Mary Mallon

Terms like “healthy carrier“,”propagator“O”epidemic“are very common today. However, they were invented by modern science over the past century thanks to the impressive history of Marie mallon. A Northern Irish woman who came to the United States in search of the American dream, but who ended up infecting fifty people with typhoid fever.

It is essential to note that finding the person responsible for an outbreak of typhoid fever in New York in the early 1900s contributed to modern science to understand how diseases spread through asymptomatic carriers. In this case, it was the common element in a series of numerous contagion cases that have puzzled US authorities.

This is why she has been dubbed the “most dangerous woman in America”. She even had detractors who came to call her “Typhoid Marie“. Once it was detected that she was a carrier asymptomatic, that is, the person who carries the viruses or bacteria of a disease but who does not show symptoms, has been quarantined and, after going back and forth, has spent no more and no less of 23 years old isolated.

First shootings

Marie mallon He was born on September 23, 1869 in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. He came to the United States in 1883, as a teenager, to work as cook Yes domestic worker in New York and Long Island. At that time, the first infections of typhoid fever were not associated with it or its environment.

However, in August 1907, more and more cases began to appear. An epidemic of infections in the family Warren alerted the neighbors of Oyster bay, a district where only the rich could afford to spend the summer. Of course, taking with him a private army of servants; maids, butlers, gardeners and cooks, among others.

It was the first time in history that there was an epidemic of typhoid fever there. The situation worried not only Mr. Warren, chairman of Lincoln Bank, but also the owner of the mansion he rented, George Thompson, who lived off the rents of his luxurious estates. The owner, of course, couldn’t afford a disease to ruin his business.

The detective”

So when nearly 30 unexplained cases worried neighbors, George Thompson wanted to find the origin of it all. So he hired Georges soper, one of the first sanitation specialists in North America specializing in hygiene conditions, epidemics and more. Although at first the doctor believed everything to be related to water and food, none of this turned out to be the case.

There was something strange about this situation. Usually the typhoid fever he appeared in the suburbs or slums of New York and not in high society. But also, having symptoms at the same time by members of the Warren family and military personnel was not common. As they are two different worlds and there was not a lot of relationship between them.

So, Dr. Soper put himself in the shoes of a detective to find out how this disease had entered. With new cases emerging at a Park Avenue home in Manhattan, Soper grew suspicious of Mary Mallon, who had resigned as the Warren family cook and now works there. She was the link. But how did it spread if it wasn’t sick?

23 years in quarantine

While there were vaccines against certain infectious diseases and advances in epidemic phenomena at that time, the concept of asymptomatic carrier, at least not in the United States. But the doctor managed to establish that previous outbreaks had occurred in homes where Mary had also worked.

Once Soper was able to perform an exam on Mallon, he detected the presence of the bacteria in his stool. Salmonella typhi, which causes typhoid fever and is characterized by pain in the abdomen and head and an increase in body temperature. Indeed, Mary was a carrier of the virus but had no symptoms. The case caused a sensation in the New York media and the authorities made a decision.

After a few weeks, it was determined that they would have to take her to a medical center on a small island to undergo a period of quarantine. She spent three years there, living alone in a nearby hut where she was brought only food. At that time, the press already knew her under the name of “Marie Tifoïde“And everyone had an opinion on the matter. In 1910, she obtained her freedom on condition that she would never work as a cook again.

He worked in different places and under different names for five years without keeping his promise. In 1915, an epidemic of about 20 people was known in a Manhattan hospital. Dr Soper visited and recognized the handwriting of the Northern Irishwoman in some files: she worked as a cook and used a false name. Marie mallon was transferred to North Brother Island and passed 23 years in quarantine solitary. In 1932 he suffered a stroke which resulted in paralysis and died six years later at the age of 69.