Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, is revisited in this brief article published in the New York Times.Typhoid Mary, a food worker in the early 1900s, is known for asymptomatic, long term biliary carriage of Salmonella typhi. By not properly washing her hands, Typhoid Mary contaminated prepared food and was responsible for salmonella outbreaks in New York City.
A recent scientific publication highlights the newly discovered biochemical and immunologic mechanisms that allow for long term, asymptomatic carriage of Salmonella typhi.
Typhoid Mary, gone but not forgotten.