By Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Narrated by Donna Postel
Listening length: 3 hours 20 minutes
Published August 4, 2015
My review: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read for my March 2023 Reading challenge, prompt 8: less than 300 pages/less than 6 hours.
What happens when a person's reputation has been forever damaged? This riveting biography of Mary Mallon by the Sibert medalist and Newbery Honor winner Susan Bartoletti looks beyond the tabloid scandal of Mary's controversial life. How she was treated by medical and legal officials reveals a lesser-known story of human and constitutional rights, entangled with the science of pathology and enduring questions about who Mary Mallon really was. How did her name become synonymous with deadly disease? And who is really responsible for the lasting legacy of Typhoid Mary?
I have really been enjoying my non-fiction books lately, this is the story of the person behind the terrible name "typhoid-Mary."
Before the laws that protected our health information, before the germ theory was commonly known and believed thing, epidemics were widespread and deadly. While we may not see much of it here, thanks to vaccines, typhoid still kills hundreds of thousands of people per year and back in the years before the vaccine was widely available (not to mention running hot water and sanitation), typhoid was rampant. We've all heard the name "typhoid Mary" but did yo know she was a real person? A real woman who carried the typhoid virus but was not symptomatic.
She was actually the first person in the US "discovered" with non-symptomatic typhoid. Meaning she carried (and could spread) the virus, but wasn't sick. Unfortunately, Mary distrusted science and the medical community. When an epidemiologist wanted samples for his research into an outbreak, she fought against him. He eventually went to the New York Health department and convinced them she was a danger to public health. This is a story you are going to have to read (or hear) to believe! It is worth the listen though. Short story but something I think anyone in the health or community health area or work needs to listen to.
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