Typhoid Mary

In August 1906, six members of a rich family on Long Island mysteriously contracted the dreaded typhoid fever. Observers were puzzled as to how these upper class New Yorkers could catch a slum disease," but through bacterial analysis, detective George Soper discovered how the family's Irish cook without any symptoms inadvertantly infected her employers-and led to her banishment on a quarantine island. See how this famous turn-of-the-century case sparked a debate that still rages on today in a world of HIV, SARS and Ebola. 2004/color/60 min/NR.

Producer: Nancy Porter
Producer: Peter Frumkin