** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

An outbreak of Typhoid occurred 1906 in a wealthy family in Oyster Bay, New York.

Typically a disease of ‘deprived’ people, investigators concluded that the source must have been contaminated water or freshwater clams. However, in 1907, another wealthy family in Manhattan, New York also had an outbreak.

One investigator, George Soper, identified the link: it was the Cook.

Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary, was found to have worked for 8 different families between 1900-1907; 7 of these families experienced cases of typhoid. Mary was sent into isolation for 2 years and confirmed as a healthy carrier of the bacteria Salmonella typhi but reoffended within 3 months of release.

This is the story of the villain Typhoid Mary vs the tragedy of Mary Mallon.

We thank Fidelma McCorry as the voice behind the reading of Mary's letter.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at <a href="https://thismedicallife.com.au/">This Medical Life</a>, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **
An outbreak of Typhoid occurred 1906 in a wealthy family in Oyster Bay, New York.
Typically a disease of ‘deprived’ people, investigators concluded that the source must have been contaminated water or freshwater clams. However, in 1907, another wealthy family in Manhattan, New York also had an outbreak.
One investigator, George Soper, identified the link: it was the Cook.
Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary, was found to have worked for 8 different families between 1900-1907; 7 of these families experienced cases of typhoid. Mary was sent into isolation for 2 years and confirmed as a healthy carrier of the bacteria Salmonella typhi but reoffended within 3 months of release.
This is the story of the villain Typhoid Mary vs the tragedy of Mary Mallon.
We thank Fidelma McCorry as the voice behind the reading of Mary's letter.

Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.


Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession. From experience, we know that our audience extends beyond these fields and would like to welcome anyone to listen. The stories of those who came before us are nothing short of remarkable and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Production by Tim Whiffen

Design by Tom Buzz