Fatal Fever

Starred review from January 19, 2015
Jarrow follows Red Madness with a second captivating book in her planned trilogy on deadly diseases. This time the culprit is typhoid fever with the focus on Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary), the infamous Irish immigrant cook who helped spread it in the early 20th century. The author’s extensive research results in a compelling narrative about the feared infection and the stubborn Mallon, who twice ran from officials and was twice banished from New York City. It also weaves her story into that of sanitation engineer George Soper, Dr. S. Josephine Baker, and other public health officials who worked to track her down and improve the conditions under which typhoid thrives: “Scores of outhouses sat on the creek banks. Their contents oozed into the running water and turned the streams into sewers.” Replete with archival photos, this thorough account brings readers to the present day and modern medicine’s fight against what is still a scourge in many countries. The book wraps up with a list of famous typhoid victims (including Orville and Wilbur Wright), glossary, extensive bibliography, and source notes. Ages 10–up.

Starred review from January 1, 2015

Gr 5 Up-Just who was Typhoid Mary? In this second installment of a planned trilogy featuring deadly diseases, the first being Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat (Calkins Creek, 2014), Jarrow relates the account of Typhoid Mary, also known as Mary Mallon, and places it in historical context, explaining the devastating effects of typhoid fever. A symptomless carrier of typhoid, Mallon was a cook who inadvertently infected numerous people and was responsible for many deaths. Jarrow skillfully weaves Mallon's story into that of two other key figures working to fight and contain the disease: George Albert Soper, a sanitation engineer and typhoid expert; and Sara Josephine Baker, a doctor working at the New York City Department of Health. Citing newspaper articles, courtroom documents, and the personal accounts of several doctors, Jarrow acts as a medical detective, following the lives of Mallon, Soper, and Baker while illuminating a fascinating chapter in public health history. The work of Soper and Baker led to a dramatic decrease in typhoid cases as well as other infectious diseases. Mary, sadly, believed that she neither carried typhoid germs nor that she was responsible for outbreaks and spent most of her life virtually imprisoned on North Brother Island in New York's East River. A nonfiction page-turner relying upon extensive research and copious source notes, this is a fantastic addition to any library.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2015
This engrossing story about Typhoid Mary relates the grim history of typhoid fever, which killed tens of thousands of Americans in the early 1900s. The narrative opens in 1907, when Dr. Josephine Baker, a New York City medical inspector, and three police officers paid a visit on Irish immigrant Mary Mallon, later known as Typhoid Mary. Mallon was a healthy-looking, middle-aged cook suspected of carrying typhoid bacteria and infecting those she worked for, sometimes fatally. Chapters about finding and imprisoning Mallon alternate with those on typhoid, its symptoms, how it spread and how it was largely eradicated. Lively writing uses primary sources to relate well-chosen, sometimes-gruesome details about the disease and convey the personalities of Mallon, Baker and George Soper, a sanitary engineer who tracked down Mallon through her employment history. An unusually attractive design incorporates many photographs, such artifacts as posters and cartoons, and sidebars. More than a chronological account, this exploration pays tribute to the power of public health measures and raises questions about the ethics of protecting the public by quarantining someone like Mallon, who sued for her freedom. A top-notch addition to the popular topic of deadly diseases. (timeline, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

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Starred review from February 15, 2015
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* The name Typhoid Mary lives on, but those of George Soper, Sara Josephine Baker, and Mary Mallon are relatively unknown. In this thoroughly researched book, Jarrow tells their intertwined stories. Beginning in 1906, Soper, an engineer and chemist known as a germ detective, tied several typhoid outbreaks to Mallon, an Irish cook who was a typhoid carrier. Baker, a public health doctor in New York City, led the Department of Health's efforts to test Mallon for the disease. Feisty, uncooperative, and apparently healthy, Mallon repeatedly resisted officials and never accepted that she had infected dozens of people, including several who died. After a dramatic opening scene in which Mallon flees from health officials, Jarrow backtracks to 1903, when Soper investigated a typhoid outbreak in Ithaca, New York. Here she introduces the disease, its consequences for the community, and the growing role of government in public health, topics she later develops more fully. The writing is lucid, well organized, and informative. The book's large format allows for excellent reproductions of the many period photos, prints, and documents. Readers who are curious about Typhoid Mary, including those who enjoyed Julie Chibbaro's historical novel Deadly (2011), will find this an absorbing account of what actually happened.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)