Reference no: EM133907413

Mary Mallon Case Study

Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook in New York in the early 20th century. Over seven years, from 1900 to 1907, Mallon worked for a number of different households, unknowingly spreading illness to the people who lived in each one. In 1906, one family hired George Soper, an expert in typhoid fever epidemics, to determine the cause of the illnesses in their household. Eventually, Soper tracked Mallon down and directly linked 22 cases of typhoid fever to her. He discovered that Mallon was a carrier for typhoid but was immune to it herself. Although active carriers had been recognized before, this was the first time that an asymptomatic carrier of infection had been identified.

Because she herself had never been ill, Mallon found it difficult to believe she could be the source of the illness. She fled from Soper and the authorities because she did not want to be quarantined or forced to give up her profession, which was relatively well paid for someone with her background. However, Mallon was eventually caught and kept in an isolation facility in the Bronx, where she remained until 1910 when the New York health department released her under the condition that she never again work with food. Unfortunately, Mallon did not comply, and she soon began working as a cook again. After new cases began to appear that resulted in the death of two individuals, the authorities tracked her down again and returned her to isolation, where she remained for 23 more years until her death in 1938. Epidemiologists were able to trace 51 cases of typhoid fever and three deaths directly to Mallon, who is unflatteringly remembered as "Typhoid Mary."

Mary Mallon was a cook in New York at the turn of the 20th century. At that time, she was linked to outbreaks of Typhoid fever; however, she was not known to have symptoms of this illness.

1. Research and discuss Typhoid Fever. Be sure to describe the important aspects of this infection that are known and identify controls that are currently in place today to manage the spread of this illness. Were these controls available in the early 1900s?

2. Demonstrate your understanding of ethical theory used in public health practice by applying the theories of Kantianism, utilitarianism, and communitarianism to the treatment of Mary Mallon.

3. Based on your application of these theories and in terms of public health ethics, do you think, it was ethical for authorities in New York to isolate Mary Mallon? Are there other options that could have been implemented? Explain your rationale.