TYPHOID FEVER: AN URBAN SCOURGE
Typhoid fever is caused by infection with Salmonella typhi, a bacterial pathogen of humans. Typhoid bacteria are transmitted when people ingest contaminated food or water, or when contaminated sewage gets into water used for drinking or washing food. In the body, S. typhi inhabits the intestines and is shed in the feces. If the shedder doesn’t practice good hygiene, such as washing the hands after using the toilet and before handling food, he or she can spread the bacteria to others. Once S. typhi is ingested, it quickly spreads to the blood, producing headaches, upset stomach, and very high fever that can lead to death.
THE CASE BEGINS
At the turn of the 20th century, infectious diseases such as cholera …show more content…
In the spring of 1907, he located Mary, who now was cooking for another family. Soper approached Mary without warning and somewhat abruptly: he showed up at the kitchen door where she worked, briefly explained that she was spreading disease through her cooking, and informed her that she had to furnish blood and stool samples immediately. Mary, understandably shocked and probably frightened, chased him out of the house with a carving fork. A similar scenario ensued when the next city health official arrived at Mary’s kitchen door. The official then returned with five police officers. Armed with her carving fork, Mary ran out of the house and hid nearby. After a search of several hours they found Mary hiding under a stairway. Cornered, she became even more violent, and it took all five policemen to restrain her. She was then transported to an isolated quarantine facility. A large part of Mary’s reaction resulted from her firm belief that they had the wrong person. She maintained that she had never had typhoid, so she could not be a carrier, refusing to accept the possibility that she had probably once had a very mild case and had not realized it. However, weekly tests conducted over several months on her blood and stools showed that she harbored a large population of S. typhi. Soper later recalled how the results supported …show more content…
. . from 25 to 50 per cent typhoid-like colonies on the culture plates . . . The cook was virtually a living culture tube in which the germs of typhoid multiplied and from which they escaped in the movements from her bowels. When at toilet her hands became soiled, perhaps unconsciously and invisibly so. When she prepared a meal, the germs were washed and rubbed from her fingers into the food. No housekeeper ever gave me to understand that Mary was a particularly clean cook . . . the infectious matter is believed to have been carried from the cook’s hands to the people who were later taken sick by means of ice cream containing cut-up peaches. Mary prepared this herself. In this instance no heat sterilized the washings from her hands.
QUARANTINED FOR LIFE
Nicknamed “Typhoid Mary” by the newspapers, Mary remained in quarantine for three years. She was released in 1910 on condition that she never work again handling food. At first she adhered to this, but in 1915, using a false name, she took a cooking job at a hospital. Her identity was discovered when 25 people became ill and two died in a typhoid outbreak there. Seized again by authorities, Mary was returned to quarantine, where she remained until her death in 1937 from complications of a stroke. Throughout her life, Mary adamantly maintained that she had never had typhoid
Typhoid fever is caused by infection with Salmonella typhi, a bacterial pathogen of humans. Typhoid bacteria are transmitted when people ingest contaminated food or water, or when contaminated sewage gets into water used for drinking or washing food. In the body, S. typhi inhabits the intestines and is shed in the feces. If the shedder doesn’t practice good hygiene, such as washing the hands after using the toilet and before handling food, he or she can spread the bacteria to others. Once S. typhi is ingested, it quickly spreads to the blood, producing headaches, upset stomach, and very high fever that can lead to death.
THE CASE BEGINS
At the turn of the 20th century, infectious diseases such as cholera …show more content…
In the spring of 1907, he located Mary, who now was cooking for another family. Soper approached Mary without warning and somewhat abruptly: he showed up at the kitchen door where she worked, briefly explained that she was spreading disease through her cooking, and informed her that she had to furnish blood and stool samples immediately. Mary, understandably shocked and probably frightened, chased him out of the house with a carving fork. A similar scenario ensued when the next city health official arrived at Mary’s kitchen door. The official then returned with five police officers. Armed with her carving fork, Mary ran out of the house and hid nearby. After a search of several hours they found Mary hiding under a stairway. Cornered, she became even more violent, and it took all five policemen to restrain her. She was then transported to an isolated quarantine facility. A large part of Mary’s reaction resulted from her firm belief that they had the wrong person. She maintained that she had never had typhoid, so she could not be a carrier, refusing to accept the possibility that she had probably once had a very mild case and had not realized it. However, weekly tests conducted over several months on her blood and stools showed that she harbored a large population of S. typhi. Soper later recalled how the results supported …show more content…
. . from 25 to 50 per cent typhoid-like colonies on the culture plates . . . The cook was virtually a living culture tube in which the germs of typhoid multiplied and from which they escaped in the movements from her bowels. When at toilet her hands became soiled, perhaps unconsciously and invisibly so. When she prepared a meal, the germs were washed and rubbed from her fingers into the food. No housekeeper ever gave me to understand that Mary was a particularly clean cook . . . the infectious matter is believed to have been carried from the cook’s hands to the people who were later taken sick by means of ice cream containing cut-up peaches. Mary prepared this herself. In this instance no heat sterilized the washings from her hands.
QUARANTINED FOR LIFE
Nicknamed “Typhoid Mary” by the newspapers, Mary remained in quarantine for three years. She was released in 1910 on condition that she never work again handling food. At first she adhered to this, but in 1915, using a false name, she took a cooking job at a hospital. Her identity was discovered when 25 people became ill and two died in a typhoid outbreak there. Seized again by authorities, Mary was returned to quarantine, where she remained until her death in 1937 from complications of a stroke. Throughout her life, Mary adamantly maintained that she had never had typhoid