Mary Mallon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon

by fortran77 • 5 years ago

48 20 5 years ago

en.wikipedia.org

munk-a3• 5 years ago

It might be a good idea to include her common alias (Typhoid Mary) somewhere in the title, considering that moniker is far more prominent than her legal name.

elihu2• 5 years ago

...on the other hand, the article notes that she hated being called that.

Calling her by her real name is a bit more respectful, and when people click on the link without recognizing the name (as I did), it serves as a good reminder that she was a regular human being born with an unfortunate medical condition.

stickfigure• 5 years ago

...that she refused to acknowledge, causing (at least) tens of deaths. I don't think we are obligated to show excessive respect in this case.

fortran77• 5 years ago

I thought it was an interesting story to review in the modern times of pandemics, quarantines, and panics.

wearywanderer• 5 years ago

I think her real name must be generally known and associated with her nickname. I've never gone out of my way to learn anything about her [before today] but I knew who this was about just from the title. I think I must have picked up this knowledge through general pop culture.

omegaworks• 5 years ago

Love that, instead of say paying her a small stipend, the state decided that all it needed to do was have her sign away her only means for obtaining a decent wage. Apparently no one in power believed public health was worth more than $50 a month.

We truly have learned little as a society about how to deal with infectious disease on a wide scale. Today, several state governors are opting out of federal unemployment protection in an effort to force people back into labor that doesn't value their health and safety or pay enough to live decently[1].

1. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/558229-first-four-s...

blowski• 5 years ago

Although the pandemic has been bad, the number of deaths is proportionally much lower than both the 1918 and 1957 outbreaks. We still have a lot to learn, but government action in this pandemic has prevented a lot of deaths.

chasil2• 5 years ago

The 1918 flu left about 675k fatalities in the U.S.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoratio...

Some statistics say that current U.S. pandemic fatalities are very close (615k).

https://ncov2019.live

The 1918 flu had much higher fatality rates elsewhere in the world.

elihu2• 5 years ago

Worldometer puts the number of covid deaths currently at 3,823,503, which is probably a substantial undercount.

Wikipedia says the number of deaths due to 1957 pandemic is between 1 and 4 million [1].

World population is about 3 times what it was in 1957, so maybe the 1957 pandemic was worse per-capita, but I think with the large error bars it's hard to say for sure.

Also, the current pandemic isn't over yet (even if it has slowed down substantially in those parts of the world that have good vaccination campaigns).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957%E2%80%931958_influenza_pa...

dsnuh• 5 years ago

I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to call out what I believe to be the finest song about Mary Mallon, by the finest musical act named after Mary Mallon...

"Plagues and Bacon" by Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic). Some NSFW lyrics. It's a jam.

https://youtu.be/pNCM5CmxYSQ

cush• 5 years ago

Hail Mary Mallon is an incredible hip hop group

rjbwork• 5 years ago

Indeed. I love Aes. One of hip hop's greatest lyricists and MC's.

Mary Mallon

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