Why Was Mary Mallon Targeted So Deadly?
Why was Mary Mallon Targeted so severely?
Although Mary Mallon was the first healthy carrier identified, she was not the only healthy carrier to spread typhoid fever to others. It is estimated that about three percent of those who had typhoid became carriers, meaning 90-135 new carriers were created each year. Neither was Mary Mallon even the deadliest healthy carrier. Mary made 47 people ill and killed three while Tony Labella, another healthy carrier, caused 122 people to become ill and five deaths.
Labella was only isolated for two weeks and then released while Mary was confined in total for over 25 years. Perhaps they confined her for so long because she broke the health officials' rules after being told of her contagious status. …show more content…
Why was such harsh action taken on Mary
Mallon?
Mallon’s identity contributed to the extreme treatment she suffered. Mallon was an Irish immigrant woman from the working lower class. She cooked because she earned a decent living and then she was wretched from her life and confined for two years. When she was released she was not permitted to go back to the job that had sustained her before. She also did not have the skills necessary to find another job that paid just as well as being a cook. The New York City
Health Commissioner who had released her in 1910 helped her find a job doing laundry but it did not provide the wages or job satisfaction to which she had previously become accustomed. The
health department failed in their obligation to help her find long term gainful employment so she inevitably returned to being a cook.
Mallon also had a terrible temper. Dr. S. Josephine Baker describes an experience with
Mallon as, “She came out fighting and swearing, both of which she could do with appalling efficiency and vigor. I made another effort to talk to her sensibly and asked her again to let
Although Mary Mallon was the first healthy carrier identified, she was not the only healthy carrier to spread typhoid fever to others. It is estimated that about three percent of those who had typhoid became carriers, meaning 90-135 new carriers were created each year. Neither was Mary Mallon even the deadliest healthy carrier. Mary made 47 people ill and killed three while Tony Labella, another healthy carrier, caused 122 people to become ill and five deaths.
Labella was only isolated for two weeks and then released while Mary was confined in total for over 25 years. Perhaps they confined her for so long because she broke the health officials' rules after being told of her contagious status. …show more content…
Why was such harsh action taken on Mary
Mallon?
Mallon’s identity contributed to the extreme treatment she suffered. Mallon was an Irish immigrant woman from the working lower class. She cooked because she earned a decent living and then she was wretched from her life and confined for two years. When she was released she was not permitted to go back to the job that had sustained her before. She also did not have the skills necessary to find another job that paid just as well as being a cook. The New York City
Health Commissioner who had released her in 1910 helped her find a job doing laundry but it did not provide the wages or job satisfaction to which she had previously become accustomed. The
health department failed in their obligation to help her find long term gainful employment so she inevitably returned to being a cook.
Mallon also had a terrible temper. Dr. S. Josephine Baker describes an experience with
Mallon as, “She came out fighting and swearing, both of which she could do with appalling efficiency and vigor. I made another effort to talk to her sensibly and asked her again to let