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From 1900 to 1907, Mary Mallon drifted from job to job, working as a cook. She would only work for a couple of weeks before she would move on. Soper discovered there were 28 different outbreaks at houses in which Mallon had worked. He also found she would suspiciously leave shortly after each outbreak. Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant, became known as "Typhoid Mary." What made Mallon so unique and dangerous was the fact she was a "healthy carrier." This meant she didn’t have any of the symptoms of typhoid, but was able to pass on the deadly disease. As a result, no one suspected she was carrying typhoid from city to city. Initially, of course, Mallon was unaware she was transmitting the disease. However, at some point she started to suspect some type of connection. When Mallon was told of her carrier status, she refused to believe a healthy person could be a carrier. After two years of isolation she was set free and told never to prepare food again. Although she was instructed to report regularly to the Heath Department, Mallon disappeared, changed her name, and started preparing food again. Tragically, this disobedience led to more deaths. The outbreak that led to her apprehension infected 25 people, killing two.
Mary Mallon (23/9/1869 11/11/1938) also known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States to be identified as a health CARRIER of typhoid fever. Over the course of her career as a cook, she infected 47 people, three of whom died. Her fame is in part due to her vehement denial of her own role in causing the disease, together with her refusal to cease working as a cook. She was forcibly quarantined twice by public health authorities, and died in quarantine.
Mallon worked as a cook in the NYC area between 1900 and 1907. During this time, she infected 22 people with typhoid fever, one of whom died. She had been working in a house in Mamaroneck, New York for less than two weeks when the residents came down with typhoid. She moved to Manhattan in 1901, and members of that family developed fevers and diarrhoea, and the laundress died. She then went to work for a lawyer, until seven of the eight household members developed typhoid. Mary spent months helping to care for the people she made sick, but her care further spread the disease through the household. In 1904, she took a position in Long Island. Within two weeks, six out of eleven family members were hospitalised with typhoid. She changed employment again, and three more households were infected. Often, the disease was transmitted by a signature dessert she prepared: peaches and ice cream.
