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Typhoid Mary Would be a Hero Today
She insisted on her freedom, not matter who it killed.
During the Covid pandemic, we heard a lot about spreader events. In retrospect, I’m surprised we didn’t hear more historical reference to Typhoid Mary. When I was in school, I heard brief references to her but didn’t get the full impact of her story.
Typhoid Mary’s real name was Mary Mallon. Estimates vary as to how many people she infected, but estimates run from between 51 and 122. As for the number who died from the disease they contracted from her, the official number is three, but unofficial estimates put it as high as 50.
She really had to work at it to infect that many people
When I first heard of Typhoid Mary, I assumed she must have worked at a restaurant and inadvertently infected a lot of people before she knew she was a carrier.
That was not the case.
During thew time of 1900–1907, Mallon worked for eight families in the New York City area. In seven of those families, cases of typhoid popped up.
Generally speaking, Mary would leave without giving a forwarding address when the outbreaks occurred.
