Mallon, Mary

Mallon, Mary (“Typhoid Mary”) (?1870–1938) typhoid carrier; born in the U.S.A. or Ireland. Working as a private cook while carrying the bacteria that cause typhoid fever, she infected wealthy New York families with the disease (1904–07). Never ill herself, she was finally tracked down and hospitalized in New York City (1907–10) to protect others. Discovered cooking again for a New Jersey sanatorium in 1914, she was hospitalized for life. Although she herself never had the disease, she evidently passed it on to over 50 people, three of whom died.