Daily Diversions

Typhoid Fever

A potentially fatal disease characterized by high fever, headache, intestinal bleeding, and rose-colored spots on the skin, typhoid is caused by the bacillus Salmonella typhi. The bacterium is passed into the waste of infected patients and is transmitted chiefly through contaminated food or water, a pathway of disease transmission known as the fecal-oral route. The most notorious carrier of typhoid in history, Mary Mallon, or "Typhoid Mary," infected how many people during her lifetime? Discuss