The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 18 of 34 · 33 min
Typhoid: The Killer Beaten With Pipes and Standards
Typhoid was the price American cities paid for drinking their own sewage, and it was conquered by sand filters, chlorine, and a federal standard rather than a drug. Mary Mallon, identified in 1907 as the first healthy carrier in North America, became its human face and was detained for most of her life. The Public Health Service's decisive contribution was the first federal drinking-water standards in 1914.
Who's who
- Mary MallonCook identified in 1907 as North America's first healthy typhoid carrier
- George SoperSanitary engineer who traced outbreaks to Mallon
- Sara Josephine BakerNew York City health officer who apprehended Mallon
Where it happens
- North Brother Island, New YorkWhere Mallon was detained for most of her life
- Jersey City, New Jersey+1 more episodePioneered large-scale chlorination in 1908
Timeline
- 1907Mallon identified as a healthy carrier and quarantined
- 1908Jersey City begins large-scale water chlorination
- 1910Mallon released on a promise not to cook
- 1914PHS issues first federal drinking-water standards
- 1915Mallon re-detained for life
- 1938Mallon dies on North Brother Island
Still debated
Scholars still weigh whether Mallon was treated justly, as she was singled out and held longer than other carriers yet also endangered others. The estimate that clean water drove about half the urban death-rate decline is influential but approximate, and the 1914 standard legally covered only interstate carriers at first.
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