There’s Something About MaryBetween 1900 and 1907 a number of families living in New York City would

There’s Something About MaryBetween 1900 and 1907 a number of families living in New York City would mysteriously contract typhoid and fall ill. Typhoid is a bacteria that causes severe diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever.  One by one New York families contracted the disease, seemingly at random with no explanation as to the cause. Finally, in 1907 one family  who had contracted typhoid hired a medical investigator to determine how they had become ill.  The investigator examined the household and discovered that the hired family cook, an Irish woman named Mary Mallon, had pretty disturbing habits, most atrocious of which was that she didn’t wash her hands after she pooped. Did I mention that typhoid is typically spread via contact with fecal matter? The investigator then examined her work history. All of her former clients happened to be the families that had contracted typhoid over the past 7 years.  She would cook for the family, they would get sick, and she would flee and sell her services to another family, who in turn would get sick.  It was no coincidence, as under medical examination it was discovered that Mary was an asymptomatic carrier, meaning she was infected with typhoid, but had no symptoms of the disease.Mary was immediately quarantined at a clinic on North Brother Island. She denied she was a carrier and refused all medical treatment, including the removal of her gallbladder which was infested with the bacteria. Without her cooperation state medical authorities didn’t know what else to do except hold her in quarantine.  Finally in 1910 the NY State Health Commissioner ordered her release when she signed an affidavit to abide by certain sanitary conditions like washing her hands and to never work as a cook. After her release, the typhoid epidemics began again.Over the next five years Mary Mallon worked as a cook for larger institutions such as schools, factories, orphanages, and hospitals.  As a result major typhoid outbreaks would occur all over the city. In 1915 a typhoid outbreak occurred at the Sloane Hospital for Women resulting in 25 sick and 2 dead.  When medical officials arrived to investigate, they found Mary Mallon cooking in the kitchen, having taken the alias “Mary Brown”. She still didn’t wash her hands after she pooped. Mary Mallon was placed under arrest and once again placed in medical quarantine.  Once again she denied that she had typoid and refused all medical treatment.  This time, the authorities held her indefinitely, and as the years and decades went by Mary still refused to be treated or admitted that she had typhoid. Her story became a news sensation, with the media branding her with the nickname “Typhoid Mary”.  Mary Mallon would spend the rest of her life in medical quarantine until her death in 1938. During her culinary career she had sickened hundreds of people, resulting in 3 confirmed deaths with the possibility of many more unconfirmed deaths. -- source link

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