Typhoid Mary

Also known as Mary Brown, Mary Mallon

infected houseworker in New York City

Key facts

Born: ( 1869-09-23 ) September 23, 1869, Cookstown , County Tyrone, UK
Died: November 11, 1938 (1938-11-11) (aged 69), North Brother Island , New York, US
Resting place: Saint Raymond's Cemetery , New York, US
Other name: Typhoid Mary
Occupation: Cook

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Mary
Gender: female
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Cookstown
Place of death: North Brother Island
Occupation: cook
Languages spoken: English language
Image: Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary).jpg
Residence: New York City

Show 6 more facts

date of birth: 1869-09-23
date of death: 1938-11-11
Commons category: Mary Mallon
cause of death: pneumonia
manner of death: natural causes
name in native language: Mary Mallon

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), commonly known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish-born cook who lived in the United States from a young age and is believed to have infected up to fifty-seven people with the bacteria that cause typhoid fever. The infections caused three confirmed deaths. She was the first person in the U.S. to be identified as an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella Typhi bacteria.

Between 1897 and 1907, Mallon worked at the houses of several New York-based families; members of four of the households contracted typhoid. An investigation by George Soper, an epidemiologist at the New York Department of Health, identified Mallon as the potential disease vector. In 1907, she was forcibly quarantined at the Riverside Hospital, an institution for those with quarantinable diseases, on North Brother Island in New York City's East River. She was released in 1910 after she swore to report to the health department every quarter and not return to cooking as a career.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Typhoid Mary” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.