Mary Mallon Food Poisoning

Mary Mallon was a hardworking, well respected chef in the 1880s. She cooked for the wealthy families of New York. In 1906, Mary was hired by Charles Henry Warren to cook for his family during the summer at their vacation home. One day, one of his daughters came down with typhoid fever, a form of food poisoning. Within a few days half of the people in the home had become sick. Nobody could figure out where the typhoid had came from, so a man named George Soper, who was a sanitary engineer, decided to investigate. He tested the waters and found nothing wrong, so he decided to take a look at Mary, the cook. Mary was no longer working for the Warren family at that time. It turns out that seven of the families that Mary used to work for had over …show more content…
The most common symptoms are diarrhea nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The severity of the symptoms are dependant on the type of food poisoning that a person receives. Some of them can be so severe they can lead to death. They could last a few days to a week depending on the type of the food poisoning. Not all symptoms appear right away, it could take days, or even weeks for them to show up. Food poisoning can be prevented by correctly storing, preparing, and cooking of food. There is a set of food safety guidelines that a person needs to follow when preparing food to prevent food poisoning. Food poisoning has become more popular due to fast food restaurants. It spreads faster because of how common it has become to go out and eat. It is too late to stop the bacteria from spreading after the contaminated food is sent to the restaurants and spread throughout the community (“Food …show more content…
“Every year about forty thousand cases of Salmonella infections are reported in the United States” (Rauf et al. 47). There are several different illnesses caused by salmonella, like Salmonella typhi which causes typhoid fever. Salmonella is caused from eating undercooked eggs or raw meat. The symptoms do not usually show up right away and include a fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. These symptoms usually only last about a week and will go away by themselves. The salmonella bacteria can be killed if the food is cooked to the correct temperature. It is also very important that people who have been handling the food wash their hands to prevent spreading any bacteria to different foods (Rauf et al.