Mary, Mary. Quite Contagious

A story for our time............................................

If a professional reference had ever been requested for Mary Mallon in her role as cook to affluent New York families in the first decade of the 20th Century then, undoubtedly, it would be considered to be most impressive.

For those actively seeking someone to take up that position in a domestic household she would have been guaranteed an interview if not immediately given the job there and then.

Mary had arrived in the United States as just one of millions of Irish origin in 1869.

In the old country any sort of life and existence had been made almost impossible by the combination of the potato blight and successive years of famine. She was just 15 years old.

There will have followed a number of menial jobs and appointments for women's work usually of a manual labour type, in service or as a shop worker all for a pittance but contributing to the combined income of a family unit if everyone was called upon to earn a living.

At the age of 31 Mary had found the first of her jobs in the kitchens of the wealthier families in New York and area.

It was just one role in many required by a well-to-do household where the husband would be away on business, the lady of the house engaged in her own leisure and social activities and the children, if there were any, absent for much of the time at private and boarding schools.

Most cooks did not live on the premises but would travel in from the suburbs on a daily basis which made for extremely long hours not withstanding the travelling time which on early public transport would be an epic journey in itself.

In 1900 Mary worked for a Manhattan family. After a few years she had to leave because of ill health in the family members.

Her next role was for a lawyer and his extended family. As though bad luck was following Mary she was soon relieved of that appointment when 8 in the house fell ill.

Seeking employment farther afield Mary headed for Long Island. She arrived in 1906 and began cooking duties but it was not long before 10 out an 11 person family had been hospitalised.

You can see a bit of a pattern emerging here can't you. A new cook arrives and before long there is a very noticeable decline in the health and welfare of the families she works for.

Mary was a hard worker and in spite of these career setbacks she continued to offer her culinary services to another three families before 1907.

There were, through all of these situations, no cries or suspicions of foul play, poisoning or deliberate murder although the plot lines will have made for a great crime conspiracy theory.

One of the families thus affected employed a researcher to try to find out the cause of the illness that  had stricken its members.

The investigation slowly pieced together a trail of similar circumstances across the New York catchment.

There soon appeared one strong common denominator. All of the sufferers, and there were around 51 of them, and sadly three fatalities had at one time enjoyed the meals provided by an Irish woman, in her 30's or 40's.

The researcher, a medical investigator, had found, at long last, the source of the illness.

Mary Mallon was in fact the first asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever.

She was totally unaware of the threat that she carried and furthermore did not understand the importance of even basic rules of cleanliness such as hand washing. This was a natural reaction in that Mary had never suffered from any typhoid symptoms.

The New York Health Authority were forced to take drastic action in the wider public interest and the by now unfortunately labelled "Typhoid Mary" was taken and held in isolation on an island out in Manhattan Bay for 3 years.

After giving assurances that she would stay out of any kitchen environments and put into practice all necessary hygienic measures Mary was released back into society.

Her first employment as a laundress was, she felt, below her status and also paid much less than a cook's position.

Mary found her way back into food preparation and sure enough the outbreaks of typhoid fever kept pace.

Within 3 weeks of taking any kitchen job the customers or her colleagues fell ill.

In the fear of being pursued and sent back to austere quarantine Mary went on the run, changed her name and continued to work.

In 1915 a major outbreak at a hospital saw Mary rounded up and she spent the next 23 years, until her death at the age of 69 back on the island isolation hospital.

After her death the Post Mortem confirmed what had always been suspected (although in her lifetime Mary had always refused any in depth medical procedures or biopsies) in that her gallbladder harboured live typhoid bacteria.

It was not until as recently as 2013 that breakthroughs were made in the science and physiology behind asymptomatic carriers but of course too late to have persuaded Mary Mallon to wash her hands and prepare food with due care and attention