Typhoid Fever Case Study
Introduction
Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was a woman who seemed healthy before a health inspector, George Soppier, started poking around trying to solve the mystery behind the typhoid fever outbreaks. No one could understand how a woman who looks healthy was able to infect six out of eight families she had worked for 10 years. During the early 1900s, the thing to remember is that there was still a mystery of how diseases formed and spread. So what is typhoid fever? According to the CDC, typhoid fever is an illness that is caused by a bacterium called Salmonella Typhi (CDC, 2014.).
Mary Mallon was a healthy carrier of typhoid and did not even know it. Being a servant who was a cook for upper class families in New York City, she had passed along the bacterium on through the food and water that was served. The bacterium can also be found on surfaces where hand washing is less frequent and in feces as well. Health inspectors and law enforcement assumed Mary did not have proper hygiene. This causes to be a big public health problem, but Mallon was sentenced to a life of exile for something she did not understand. Do you believe this is an injustice for the ill?
Public Health Concern
During the early 1900s, New York City was a very crowded and a filthy place to live. The public health concern is …show more content…
Society wanted to find a result as soon as possible due to the fear of the outbreak. The lack of education on infectious disease was very profound, but as years passed doctors and the government came to understand. In New York City today, education has become a number one priority in society. Mary Mallon was not educated on the bacterium she was carrying which caused the illness and death of many families. Without educating communities; schools, churches, old age homes, etc., society would may still wonder how they were infected with a
Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was a woman who seemed healthy before a health inspector, George Soppier, started poking around trying to solve the mystery behind the typhoid fever outbreaks. No one could understand how a woman who looks healthy was able to infect six out of eight families she had worked for 10 years. During the early 1900s, the thing to remember is that there was still a mystery of how diseases formed and spread. So what is typhoid fever? According to the CDC, typhoid fever is an illness that is caused by a bacterium called Salmonella Typhi (CDC, 2014.).
Mary Mallon was a healthy carrier of typhoid and did not even know it. Being a servant who was a cook for upper class families in New York City, she had passed along the bacterium on through the food and water that was served. The bacterium can also be found on surfaces where hand washing is less frequent and in feces as well. Health inspectors and law enforcement assumed Mary did not have proper hygiene. This causes to be a big public health problem, but Mallon was sentenced to a life of exile for something she did not understand. Do you believe this is an injustice for the ill?
Public Health Concern
During the early 1900s, New York City was a very crowded and a filthy place to live. The public health concern is …show more content…
Society wanted to find a result as soon as possible due to the fear of the outbreak. The lack of education on infectious disease was very profound, but as years passed doctors and the government came to understand. In New York City today, education has become a number one priority in society. Mary Mallon was not educated on the bacterium she was carrying which caused the illness and death of many families. Without educating communities; schools, churches, old age homes, etc., society would may still wonder how they were infected with a