![]() ![]() And at the heart of the book are its recommendations to public health authorities which have contemporary relevance, and these range from avoiding ‘the use of labels that stigmatize and separate’, and treating infected people ‘with respect and empathy for their personal stories’ (pages xvii-xviii, 1-9, 12, 176 and 237-238). In this regard, the book turned out to be a masterclass on how to create fair public health policies which engender people’s confidence even when their beliefs about the disease differ from those of public health officials. As it objectively dispelled the myths that mushroomed around Mallon, the book cast her as the casualty of a biased and discriminatory public health system, proposing that understanding the different sides of her story may ‘help us find present-day solutions to our present-day problems’. ![]() ![]() Referring to the book as ‘the stories of the human side of disease and its control’, the author used the intriguing case of Mallon to skilfully unravel the complex intersection of individual liberty and public health. This book eminently succeeds in conveying the history of ‘one of the nineteenth century’s worst killers‘, and it does so by exploring ‘the many stories of Mary Mallon‘ – the Irish immigrant cook who became infamous for spreading typhoid fever in early 1900s New York. ![]()
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