WDR Zeitzeichen. September 23, 2024. 14:50 min. Available until September 24, 2099. WDR 5.
The cook Mary Mallon (born on September 23, 1869) gained notoriety as the first healthy chronic typhus sufferer in the USA. She was isolated for a total of 26 years.
Mary Mallon, Irish immigrant and excellent cook, made headlines in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. The press called her “Typhoid Mary”, who left a trail of death in her wake. A monster who “throws human skulls into the frying pan”. But Mary Mallon can’t help her fame. She was simply one of the first to be identified as a symptom-free carrier of typhus – and was therefore locked up for life. *** These are our most important interviewees: Judith Leavitt, medical historian, author of a biography of Mary Mallon Heiner Fangerau, medical historian, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf ***
When all of her fellow travelers fell ill, it was clear: Mary Mallon, who was born on September 23, 1869, was a so-called chronic excretor. She carries the typhus bacteria without falling ill herself. But she can infect others. Her right to personal freedom no longer plays a role. The US authorities classify the Irish immigrant as a danger to the general public, and the fear of typhus is great. The cook is promptly taken to the quarantine island of North Brother Island in the East River.
There, Mary Mallon becomes a test subject. At first, her urine, stool and blood are tested almost daily for typhoid pathogens. She is supposed to try out new medications and have her gallbladder removed. Mary Mallon appeals against her banishment – and loses. She is by no means the only symptom-free carrier of typhoid. In New York, 70 people are already known to have been infected by typhoid in 1918. But Mary Mallon is the only one who is locked up. When she dies in isolation in 1938, she becomes sadly known as “Typhoid Mary”.
In this Zeitzeichen Andrea Kath tells:
- by George Soper, who as an investigator locates Mary Mallon as a possible spreader of typhus,
- how Mary Mallon goes into hiding and cooks in a clinic under a different name,
- about her life in isolation
- and why she probably wouldn’t have been isolated if she had been a man.
These are our most important sources and interview partners:
- Judith Leavitt, medical historian, author of a biography of Mary Mallon
- Heiner Fangerau, medical historian, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
- Judith Leavitt: Typhoid Mary – Captive To The Public’s Health. Boston 1995
- Heiner Fangerau and Alfons Labisch: Plague and Corona. Pandemics in history, present and future. Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2020
- Filio Marineli, Gregory Tsoucalas, Marianna Karamanou, and George Androutsos: Mary Mallon (1869-1938) and the history of typhoid fever. Annals of Gastroenterology. 2013.
Further links:
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The creators behind this timepiece:
Author: Andrea Kath
Editing: Matti Hesse
Technology: Sascha Schiemann
