ShreyaTyphoid Mary
Even after being exposed to the bacteria salmonella typhi Mary Mallon did not become a victim of Typhoid. But she was an asymptomatic carrier of the same disease. This means that she herself never got infected by the disease but she could get other people infected by passing her infection.
She came to be known as “Typhoid Mary” as she infected a lot of people in New York where she worked as a cook. She refused to accept that she was an agent of the disease but eventually was forcefully taken to the North Brother Island and kept there for over 20 years.
She Died There
Mary Mallon’s refusal to accept that she was a bacteria carrier led to the proven deaths of 3 people. However, there are claims that she might have been the cause of more than 50 deaths- accounting for the number of people infected by her was not an easy task.
Mary worked as a technician on the island. In 1932, she had a stroke that paralyzed her. In 1938 she died because of pneumonia. The autopsy after her death confirmed that the typhoid bacteria was in her gallbladder which made her the carrier.
Tuberculosis Problem
Tuberculosis, a bacterial infection that leads to the damage of the lungs was another disease that was treated on the island. It is a communicable disease which is airborne. People who smoke regularly or have HIV are more prone to this infection. Today it can be treated by vaccines and antibiotics but back then it did not have a solid cure and since it was communicable, people were taken to the island.
Not Just A Sanitarium
When the island was nearing its doom it became more than a treatment facility. As the diseases it was built for declined- be it because of the discovery of vaccines or other medicine or improved lifestyle, the islands use changed.
World War II found the war veterans struggling and in need of houses. North Brother Island seemed like an ideal choice to be converted into a small city.
The Impracticality
In the 1950s, people started abandoning the North Brother Island as they realized it was impractical to be living on the island and working in New York. It required constantly ferrying between the two places. The authorities, on the other hand, were concerned about the maintenance of the island. It was decided that the people would abandon the place as there was plenty of cheap housing available in New York by now and the island was left to nature.
The Bird Sanctuary
In recent years the island has been converted into a bird sanctuary, where birds of a lot of species reside and given that the place is almost completely ruled by nature the location is ideal. However, quite recently it has lost a lot of its bird population. The pollution from New York city has managed to infect the island too. But that’s not it.