In the fall of 1906, a mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever struck a wealthy New York family vacationing in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Suspicion soon fell on the family's Irish cook, who had vanished after the first cases emerged. Desperately hoping to prevent another outbreak of typhoid, city health officials began a frustrating hunt for the woman, Mary Mallon – soon labeled in the press as ""Typhoid Mary."" 

Mary's case would ultimately spark a fierce debate over the government's authority to isolate and detain people it considered a danger to society, pitting civil liberties against the demands of public safety.

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