less than a century ago was pretty appalling. Pros: I had heard of typhoid and Typhoid Mary but knew nothing about it. The reader will also learn about typhoid, its role in history, and how it has gradually been eliminated from most of the western world. The book chronicles her capture and confinement on an island off of Manhattan for most of the rest of her life.

Not only that, but he was able to trace several other outbreaks to her.

He eventually tracked it to Mary Mellon, their former cook. When a wealthy family on Long Island was sickened with typhoid, they hired Soper to figure out what had caused the outbreak. George Soper, a sanitation engineer who helped control a typhoid epidemic that swept through the town of Ithaca and Cornell University. This captivating, well-researched volume is augmented by numerous photographs and back matter that includes source notes, a timeline, and bibliography.Summary: Everyone’s heard of Typhoid Mary, but who was she really? Uncovering her identity was a medical mystery that began in the summer of 1906. Soper’s rigorous methodology, Baker’s doggedness, and Mary Mallon’s unfortunate story illustrate the confluence of science, detective work, and social attitudes during the early decades of the 20th century. She lived there the rest of her life, even as it was acknowledged she was surely far from the only typhoid carrier in the city. Finally released if she promised not to work again as cook, she was returned to the island after another typhoid outbreak was traced to her. Mallon’s case became a civil rights issue when she was quarantined against her will on Brother’s Island off the coast of Manhattan. When public heath doctor Sara Josephine Baker tracked down Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, Mallon refused to believe she carried typhoid. Through a meticulous process of elimination Soper determined that a cook, Mary Mallon, was the most likely source of the bacteria. When six members of the Thompson family of New York City fell ill with typhoid in the summer of 1906, the family hired Soper.

After a typhoid outbreak in Ithaca, New York, in 1903 infected local residents and Cornell University students, Soper tracked the contamination source to a creek and recommended better practices in outhouse siting and maintenance, as well as construction of a city water filtration plant. Sanitary engineer and chemist George Soper functioned as a “germ detective” in the early 20th century.

ISBN: 978-1-62091-597-4 Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow Published by Calkins Creek / Highlights, 2015

Fatal fever by gail jarrow