Microbe of the Week

1. Microbe of the Week • Salmonella typhi • Gram-negative, motile, mesophilic enteric bacterium • Causative agent of typhoid fever (aka “enteric fever”

2. Microbe of the Week Salmonella typhi Gram-negative, motile, mesophilic enteric bacterium Causative agent of typhoid fever (aka “enteric fever”

3. Microbe of the Week Salmonella typhi Gram-negative, motile, mesophilic enteric bacterium Causative agent of typhoid fever (aka “enteric fever”

4. Sources • Humans are sole reservoir (does not infect animals) • Carriers may harbor the organism in their gall bladder • Contaminated food – by handlers (milk, sandwiches, meat, cake!) • or … • Contaminated water – e.g. shellfish in polluted waters • Organism survives in shellfish up to 4 days, sea water up to 9 days, for weeks in sewage • Transmission: mainly from water contaminated with human waste or human carriers

5. Typhoid Mary Sociological implications of infectious disease • Typhoid Mary's real name was Mary Mallon. • Irish immigrant who made her living as a cook • Mallon was the first person found to be a "healthy carrier" of typhoid fever in the United States. • She herself was not sick – but over 30% of the bacteria in her feces were S. typhi • Mallon is attributed with infecting 47 people with typhoid fever, three of whom died. • Interred on a N. Brother Island, NY for 26 years • 1907-1910 • 1915- till her death in 1938

6. Typhoid Mary Sociological implications of infectious disease • Typhoid Mary's real name was Mary Mallon. • Irish immigrant who made her living as a cook • Mallon was the first person found to be a "healthy carrier" of typhoid fever in the United States. • She herself was not sick – but over 30% of the bacteria in her feces were S. typhi • Mallon is attributed with infecting 47 people with typhoid fever, three of whom died. • Interred on a N. Brother Island, NY for 26 years • 1907-1910 • 1915- till her death in 1938

7. Typhoid Mary Sociological implications of infectious disease • Typhoid Mary's real name was Mary Mallon. • Irish immigrant who made her living as a cook • Mallon was the first person found to be a "healthy carrier" of typhoid fever in the United States. • She herself was not sick – but over 30% of the bacteria in her feces were S. typhi • Mallon is attributed with infecting 47 people with typhoid fever, three of whom died. • Interred on a N. Brother Island, NY for 26 years • 1907-1910 • 1915- till her death in 1938