Editing Mary Mallon (section)

== Legacy ==
=== Aftermath ===
Mallon's case became the first in which an asymptomatic carrier was discovered and isolated forcibly. The ethical and legal issues raised by her case are still discussed.{{sfn|Walzer Leavitt|1996|p=14}}{{sfn|Walzer Leavitt|Numbers|1997|p=559}}{{sfn|Women and Early Public Health|1995|pp=154–156}} Research has resulted in an estimate that Mallon had contaminated "at least one hundred and twenty two people, including five dead".{{sfn|Marineli|Tsoucalas|Karamanou|Androutsos|2013}} Other sources attribute at least three deaths to contact with Mallon, but because of health officials' inability to persuade her to cooperate, the exact number is not known. Some have estimated that contact with her may have caused 50 fatalities.<ref name=TheStraightDope/>

In a 2013 article in the ''Annals of Gastroenterology'', the authors concluded:

{{blockquote|The history of Mary Mallon, declared "unclean" like a leper, may give us some moral lessons on how to protect the ill and how we can be protected from illness{{nbsp}}[...] By the time she died New York health officials had identified more than 400 other healthy carriers of ''Salmonella typhi'', but no one else was forcibly confined or victimized as an "unwanted ill".{{sfn|Marineli|Tsoucalas|Karamanou|Androutsos|2013}}}}

Two scholarly sources combined to provide this conclusion:

{{blockquote|This case highlighted the problematic nature of the subject and the need for an enhanced medical and legal-social treatment model aimed at improving the status of disease carriers and limiting their impact on society.<ref>{{cite book|date=2011 |title=The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRjMPZW4heMC&q=south+brother+island++Ruppert+++John+Gerosa%2C+president+of+the+Metropolitan+Roofing+Supply+Company%2C&pg=PA212 |publisher=The Countryman Press |isbn=9780881509458|edition=3rd }}</ref>}}

Other healthy typhoid carriers identified in the first quarter of the 20th century include Tony Labella, an Italian immigrant, presumed to have caused more than 100 cases (with five deaths); an [[Adirondack Mountains|Adirondack]] guide dubbed "Typhoid John", presumed to have infected 36 people (with two deaths); and Alphonse Cotils, a restaurateur and bakery owner.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/bugl/epidemiology.htm |title=Epidemiology |date=March 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230003/http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/bugl/epidemiology.htm |archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref>

The [[health technology]] of the era did not have a completely effective solution: there were not any antibiotics to fight the infection, and gallbladder removal was a dangerous, sometimes fatal operation. Some modern specialists claim that typhoid bacteria can become integrated in [[macrophage]]s and then reside in intestinal [[lymph node]]s or the [[spleen]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Singer |first=Emily |url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-typhoid-mary-never-got-sick-20160831/ |title=The Strange Case of Typhoid Mary |publisher=Quanta Magazine |date=August 16, 2016 |access-date=May 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513160054/https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-typhoid-mary-never-got-sick-20160831/ |archive-date=May 13, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Monack |first=Denise |url=https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2013/08/scientists-get-a-handle-on-what-made-typhoid-marys-infectious-microbes-tick.html |title=Scientists get a handle on what made Typhoid mary's infectious microbes tick |publisher=Stanford University School of Medicine |date=August 14, 2013 |access-date=May 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523211146/https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2013/08/scientists-get-a-handle-on-what-made-typhoid-marys-infectious-microbes-tick.html |archive-date=May 23, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Ethics ===
The ethical question of her arrest and forced quarantine is still being debated. Historians frequently discuss the argument of Mallon knowing that she was infecting her clients with typhoid based on the frequency of the disease being present after her departure. They also cite the argument that antibiotics did not exist at this time and ten percent of those affected by Mallon carrying the infection died.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hopppe|first=Trevor|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1wn0rqg|title=Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness|date=2018|publisher=University of California Press|edition=1st|jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1wn0rqg}}</ref> By this argument Mallon could be considered a murderer of those ten percent of people if she knew she was a carrier of the disease, and would be a justification for her arrest.

Others argue that Mallon did not know that she had the bacteria and therefore did not deserve to be arrested when she never committed a crime. At the time, asymptomatic carriers were not understood and Mallon was believed to have said that she did not feel sick, look sick, or have any sort of visible sickness. Although Mallon did not feel ill or look sick, the disease was living dormant in what was assumed to be her gallbladder.<ref>{{cite web|title=User account|url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/user/login?destination=document-view|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=infoweb.newsbank.com}}</ref>

=== Lessons learned ===
[[File:Typhoid Mary poster in B&W.jpg|thumb|A historical poster warning against acting like Typhoid Mary.]]
Mallon was the first person found to be an asymptomatic carrier of the typhoid bacterium, and this caused the health officials to have little to no idea of how to deal with her. However, Mallon's case helped these officials identify other people who carried diseases that were dormant in their bodies based on the information they learned from Mallon's case. Mallon's case created controversy concerning personal autonomy and social responsibility. It also was the first case that provided good evidence of the existence of asymptomatic carriers.<ref name=":12"/>

=== In culture ===

The phrase "[[wikt:Typhoid Mary|Typhoid Mary]]" is now a colloquial term for anyone who spreads disease or something else undesirable.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/typhoid%20mary?s=t |title=Dictionary Reference Website: Typhoid Mary |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

[[Typhoid Mary (character)|Typhoid Mary Fisk]], also known as Bloody Mary and Mutant Zero, is a fictional [[supervillain]] appearing in [[American comic book]]s published by [[Marvel Comics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicvine.com/typhoid-mary/4005-1536/issues-cover/ |title=Typhoid Mary |publisher=Comic Vine |access-date=April 29, 2014}}</ref>

Mallon's case inspired the name of the rap music group [[Hail Mary Mallon]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Aesop Rock Launches New Group Hail Mary Mallon, Tours and Works With Kimya Dawson|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/42305-aesop-rock-launches-new-group-hail-mary-mallon-tours-and-works-with-kimya-dawson/|last=Breihan|first=Tom|website=Pitchfork|date=April 25, 2011|access-date=May 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816093648/https://pitchfork.com/news/42305-aesop-rock-launches-new-group-hail-mary-mallon-tours-and-works-with-kimya-dawson/|archive-date=August 16, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Mallon was portrayed by Melissa McMeekin in season one of the television series ''[[The Knick]]'',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Uhlich |first1=Keith |title=The Knick Recap: Open or Closed? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/09/the-knick-recap-placenta-operation.html |work=Vulture |date=September 20, 2014 |language=en-us}}</ref> in a somewhat fictionalised account of her initial infection of countless wealthy households.

Mallon's butcher knife featured as an artifact in season three of the television series ''[[Warehouse 13]]''.<ref>
{{Cite episode |title=Trials |episode-link= |url= |access-date= |series=Warehouse 13 |series-link=Warehouse 13 |first= |last= |network=SyFy |station= |date=July 18, 2011 |season=2 |series-no= |number= |minutes= |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=}}</ref> Associated with Mallon's legacy with disease, the fictional artifact had the ability to transfer illness between individuals holding the knife simultaneously.

The novel ''Fever'' (2013) by [[Mary Beth Keane]] fictionalizes the story of Mary Mallon.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

A character based on Mallon appeared in the tenth episode of the television series ''[[Brimstone (TV series)|Brimstone]]''.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Carrier |episode-link= |url= |access-date= |series=Brimstone |series-link=Brimstone (TV series) |first= |last= |network=Fox |station= |date=January 15, 1999 |season=1 |series-no= |number= |minutes= |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=}}</ref> Like Mallon, Ann "Sally" McGee (played by [[Alexandra Powers]]) was also an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid kept in involuntary quarantine.