“Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary” by Gail Jarrow.
Calkins Creek, Honesdale, Pennsylvania, 2015, 175 pages, Grades 6-9.
Before vaccines were invented, people suffering from certain diseases often died from the infections. With no drugs available to fight diseases such as typhoid fever, many victims passed away. This began to change in 1928, when Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.
But prior to this monumental discovery, a different world existed. With little knowledge of the science of disease, doctors often had few tools to fight these contagions. Typhoid fever in particular was very hard to treat, and many Americans suffered from this dreadful disease. Usually, people contracted this illness through water contaminated by human waste.
Though 10-30% of the victims of typhoid fever died from the ailment, those recovering frequently had a lifetime of immunity. A very small number of these people could still spread the disease even though they were asymptomatic. The most notable of this unfortunate group was Mary Mallon. Gail Jarrow tells the tragic and deadly history of Mary Mallon in this gripping book, “Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary.”
During the summer of 1906, a strange illness began striking down people in the ultra-rich community on Long Island, New York. Whereas in the slums of New York City, poor immigrants frequently became ill with painful stomach viruses, the rich people summering on Long Island had the best of everything.
However, after six of the 11 family members of the Warren household develop typhoid symptoms, Mr. Warren contacts disease specialist Dr. George Soper to investigate. Soper begins examining the origin of the typhoid outbreaks on Long Island. Puzzled, he has difficulty finding the cause.
He eventually discovers that most of the families hiring a certain Irish cook, Mary Mallon, have had typhoid outbreaks. Soper tracks down Mary Mallon and forces her to be tested. Mary seems to be perfectly healthy and violently objects to the tests. New York authorities lock up Miss Mallon and compel her to give fecal and urine samples to be tested. The tests all come back positive for typhoid fever.
But clearly, Mary Mallon is not sick. What is going on? How can the tests show that Mary’s positive for typhoid fever but she is not ill herself? The state of New York, not knowing what else to do, forcibly takes Mallon to the 20-acre North Brothers Island in New York Harbor and treats her at the small hospital on the island. She will not be able to leave until the tests show that she no longer carries typhoid.
The newspapers learn of this and start writing sensational stories about the spread of typhoid fever in New York. The stories begin centering on Mary Mallon and her positive tests for typhoid. Scandal sells newspapers. Soon the newspapers deem her the most dangerous woman in America and dub her “Typhoid Mary.”
Though she is allowed to live in a small cottage on North Brothers Island, a 26-year, cursed existence is about to start for the tragic Irish cook. Mary Mallon does not think she is sick and believes the State of New York has conspired against her. What happens?
The similarities between the events surrounding Mary Mallon’s tragedy and the current Covid-19 outbreak are uncanny. In both events, we see people expounding cures that do not work. For example, in the typhoid fever outbreak, people are told that drinking lime juice will help stop the disease. Scientists make correct and incorrect assumptions about treatments and the value of medicines and vaccines in development. Fear often overrides reason and people argue about responses to the outbreak. Scapegoats are sought and will be found. Questions arise regarding a state’s ability to impose quarantines and restrictions in the name of the public good. Defining the common good is not easy and these issues have never been totally resolved.
I strongly recommend this book to students in the 6-9 grades studying disease outbreaks in the United States. Covid-19 is not the first nor will it be the last. The case of Typhoid Mary can certainly help us be better prepared in the future. Highly recommended.
