typhoid mary

[brashy]

who was typhoid Mary

[andy hughes]

Mary Mallon was an Irish imigrant cook in New York in the early 1900's. Her job as a cook, combined with her reluctance to wash her hands ensured that any of the households in whcih she worked became infected with typhoid. Although proven to be a carrier of the disease, and apparently unaffected herself, Mary refused to accept she was a typhoid carrier, and even changer her name to obtain employment as a cook, carrying on her one-woman infestation. Eventually she was isolated by the the government and remained in a house on Long Island until her death in 1938. During an autopsy, her gall bladder proved to be a virtual typhoid factory, and her actions caused illness to dozens of people, and death to at least two of them. Mary Mullen, dubbed 'Typhoid Mary' became something of a celebrity, and was interviewed by various journalists, all of whom were warned to accept nothing that could be eaten or drunk from her.