Episode 185: Typhoid Mary, Revisited

 

There are quite a few parallels between Mary Mallon’s story (a series of typhoid outbreaks) and our present-day pandemic, and so there are things we can learn from it.

But was Mary a villain?

Or simply a victim of circumstances?

This episode also serves as a little hint for the one we’re working on right now for next time!

TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS

For photos, things we discuss, and our media recommendations click on over to Mary’s ORIGINAL SHOWNOTES.

 

Episode 149: “Typhoid” Mary Mallon

New York American 1909

Mary Mallon was a hardworking Irish immigrant in early 1900s New York City. She was strong, determined, and a good cook with both an extraordinary cussing vocabulary and a high concentration of Salmonella typhi in her digestive tract. Because of the latter, which she refused to accept and couldn’t, or wouldn’t, control the spread of, she was imprisoned for the latter portion of her life.

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