Have you ever found an ancestor's death on a church record and seen the notation that they died of Typhoid?
NOVA WGBH Boston Video's video takes the case of Mary Mallon who was, in 1906, an Irish immigrant who rose to the top of the servants profession by becoming a cook for private families. She was, unknown to herself, a carrier of the Typhoid disease. George Soper was a doctor who was performing bacterial detective work, and his research lead him to Mary, who, perhaps due to her level of ignorance, would not believe and could not accept that her presence had lead to the sickness and in some cases death of people she worked for.
Because typhoid had to be transmitted through food and improper (to be delicate about it) bathroom habits, Mary was first sequestered on an island near Manhattan and then allowed to work at something else - ironing. After a few years of barely making it ironing, Mary disappeared and found herself employment as a cook once again. She was, perhaps, in denial about how deadly she was to come in contact with, or simply, trying to survive.
The DVD includes actor depictions of Mary and the doctor, and is based on a book by Judith Walzer Leavitt called "Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Heath."
