Who was Typhoid Mary

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A.� Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant cook, who etween 1900 and 1907 infected 22 New Yorkers with typhoid fever through her puddings and cakes. One of them died. Mallon moved from household to household, infecting residents in her wake, but without contracting the disease herself.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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And then she was caught by a piece if neat detective work … but first, a biography.

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Mallon, born in County Tyrone in 1869, emigrated to the United States in 1883. By 1906 she was working as a cook for the family of Charles Henry Warren, a New York banker. The Warrens had rented a house in the city's fashionable Oyster Bay for the summer.

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Q.� Sounds as if something's about to happen ...

A.� Correct. From 27 August to 3 September, six of the 11 people in the house came down with typhoid fever, including Mrs Warren, two daughters, two maids and a gardener.

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Typhoid fever, caused by the bacteria salmonella typhi, is spread through water or food supplies. Typhoid fever, which causes headache, loss of energy, upset bowels and a high fever, was a scourge of the 19th Century, especially in cities. It killed about 10% of sufferers.

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Q.� But this was the 20th Century

A.� Precisely. By that time, public health officials understood the need for a clean water supply and the death rate from the disease was falling. The Oyster Bay outbreak was therefore unusual and the house's landlords were worried that they would not be able to re-let it, so they hired George Soper, a sanitary engineer, to investigate.

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Q.� And what was his theory

A.� At first he thought those infected had been eating soft clams, a notorious source. Then he noted that the family had changed cooks about three weeks before the epidemic broke out. She remained in the family only a short time afterwards.

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Soper got a description of the cook - an Irishwoman of about 40, tall, heavy and unmarried. He became convinced she was a 'healthy carrier'.

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In March, 1907, Soper tracked Mallon down to Park Avenue, Manhattan, where she was a cook. Soper told her she was spreading death and disease through her cooking and that he wanted samples of her stools, urine and blood for tests. It was a bit of brilliant detective work … but Mary was, ahem, not co-operative.

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Q.� What happened

A.� In Soper's words: 'It did not take Mary long to react to this suggestion. She seized a carving fork and advanced in my direction. I passed rapidly down the narrow hall, through the tall iron gate.'�

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Q.� And where did that leave him

A.� Without director proof. However, he investigated her career history and found that within the previous 10 years, Mallon had worked for eight families.

Seven had had typhoid outbreaks, including the Park Avenue home. A total of 22 people had become ill and one had died.

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Soper took his data to the New York City health inspector and Mallon was taken, kicking and screaming, to a hospital, where tested showed high concentrations of typhoid bacilli. She was moved to an isolation cottage on the grounds of the Riverside Hospital, a hospital for infectious diseases on North Brother Island, between the Bronx and Rikers Island.

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Q.� How long did she stay there

A.� For three years – protesting all the time. She told a newspaper: 'I have never had typhoid in my life and have always been healthy. Why should I be banished like a leper and compelled to live in solitary confinement... '

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Q.� Then

A.� She was allowed to go free as long as she stayed in touch with the health department and did not work with food. For a time she worked washing clothes.

But, unable to earn enough money, she disappeared and returned to cooking.

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In 1915, using the name Mrs Brown and working as a cook in Sloane Maternity Hospital in Manhattan, she had spread typhoid to at least 25 doctors, nurses and staff. Two died.

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She was sent again to North Brother Island, where she lived the rest of her life, 23 years, alone in a one-room cottage. Mary worked in the hospital as a domestic worker and later in a bacteriology lab on the grounds, washing bottles. She also had a cottage industry making and selling goods to hospital employees.

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Some say she baked – and sold – some delicious cakes.

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Steve Cunningham