Erin K. Costello
Kate's Facebook post begins with (images down below), "Her real name was Mary Mallon. She was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook for several different households. She contracted salmonella typhi with mild symptoms, but unlike most people, she continued to shed the bacteria after she was well -- apparently, forever. Mary was the first known asymptomatic shedder, and no one knew what to do with her. So, they simply locked her up for two years." It is true that Mary was an Irish immigrant who cooked for several households in the very early 1900s. It is not known if she ever contracted typhoid fever though. Some experts think she was exposed while in her mother’s womb. Mary insisted until the day she died that she was never sick with typhoid fever. Mary was not the first known asymptomatic “shedder” in general. She was the first known carrier for typhoid fever. Kate continues her post saying, "She attempted to sue the government for this, and lost. She was released, on the condition that she not go back to work as a cook -- which she did anyway. More people got sick, and she was again locked up, this time for the rest of her life. During her quarantine, no one took the time to explain to Mary WHY she needed to be careful, or how. They just told her "don't work as a cook." They did not explain to her that she was carrying a bacteria in her feces that, when she used the bathroom and didn't wash her hands, could easily spread to others. When they tried to control her and not treat her like a human, she rebelled. By the time Mary died, 400 other asymptomatic carriers had been discovered. None of them were ever quarantined or treated like Mary was, even though they had the same ability to spread disease that she had." Mary did lose a suit against the government and was released after almost three years in quarantine on the condition she never work as a cook again and that she commit to specific hygienic practices to prevent infecting others. She was in quarantine for almost three years the first time. Many people tried to explain to Mary how and why she was a danger to the public. They also tried to teach her to avoid being that danger. Setting her free to join the public once again was not controlling nor was it subhuman treatment. She. Was. A. Risk. Mary had to take special precautions. She was asked to wash her hands after using the bathroom and to not prepare food for the public. That is all. Of course a snowflake with such exaggerated delicate sensibilities such as MAM would consider hand washing and exile from preparing food for the unsuspecting public to be inhuman treatment. Mary did send her samples out to independent labs, some of which came back with negative results. However, her samples taken and tested by the hospital while in quarantine would sometimes come back with negative results as well. Throughout her life though, she remained an asymptomatic carrier by and large. Mary was picked up again after it was discovered she was working as a cook in several locations, several of which experienced outbreaks of typhoid fever. She was then picked up again and remained in solitary until the day she died — except for the one day a week she was allowed out to the mainland to do as she wished. She remained in custody for the remainder of her life because, unlike the newly discovered 400 asymptomatic carriers known at the time of Mary’s death, she refused to believe she was a carrier of the disease and posed a risk of refusing to take necessary precautions, yet again. For the remainder of her life while in custody, she worked as a lab assistant at the hospital location she was living. She became educated on much of the basic lab sciences known in the day. She was given all the time in the world to have her situation explained to her. She remained adamant in her refusal to believe the science. Kate then concluded her post by saying, "Using Mary Mallon's situation to justify anything is justifying abuse. Plain and simple. The state was ethically and morally wrong. We should not be okay with what happened to her, and we should not want to repeat it now." I do agree that Mary’s treatment was harsh and extreme. A century ago though, extreme was about the only tool at society’s disposal. Today, thanks to a century of medicinal and scientific advancements, we have a much higher risk of having to live with another Typhoid Mary free to run around and infect the public, than we do of having to lock someone up for life against their will for simply being a “super-spreader.” Contract tracing is a major tool we can use to assist asymptomatic carriers and prevent the government of ever having to lock someone up again in the interest of public health. After all, wouldn’t another willfully ignorant or indifferent Mary negligently infecting the public be a huge risk to public health and life? Is someone who refused to believe they were a danger and ignored precautions really any different from the irresponsible gun owner who neglected to keep guns away from kids, or the lab worker who ignored safety rules and regulations resulting in the release of the small pox virus, or from the drunk driver who ignores the science behind the effects of alcohol and insists they're fine to drive? The similarities of Typhoid Mary to today’s anti-vaccine zealots are astonishing. - She had been explained the severity of her infectiousness., and told she’s carrying the disease even though she isn’t sick. She disbelieved it. - She had been informed and educated on hygiene practices and other precautions she need to commit to in order to avoid spreading the disease. She ignored them. - She was ordered and agreed to no longer work as a cook so she would not put the public in harm. She ignored this obligation as well. Despite the overwhelming evidence that she was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, she disbelieved and ignored the science. Despite being informed and ordered to take necessary precautions in the interest of public health, she refused to adopt such practices and cared only about herself. During Mary’s attempt to sue the government while in her first quarantine she said, “I never had typhoid in my life and have always been healthy,” Mallon wrote. “Why should I be banished like a leper and compelled to live in solitary confinement with only a dog for a companion?” She was told why, and then later released under conditions she not recklessly expose the public. She chose to ignore the conditions she originally agreed to because she didn’t see why she should have to keep them since she wasn’t sick. SOUND FAMILIAR? A century ago we had Typhoid Mary. Today, thanks to much of the same scientific ignorance, we will end up with Covid-Kate.
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