Typhoid Mary (c. 1870–1938)

US typhoid carrier. Working as a private cook while carrying the bacteria that cause typhoid fever, she infected wealthy New York families with the disease (1904–07). Never ill herself, she was finally tracked down and hospitalized in New York City (1907–10) to protect others. Discovered cooking again for a New Jersey sanatorium in 1914, she was hospitalized for life. It is estimated that Mallon passed the disease on to at least 50 people, three of whom died.