ABSTRACT
By the early twentieth century, bacteriology was competing for scientific legitimacy within the public health community with other scientific perspectives. During this period, public health officials knew that infected humans could spread typhoid, but researchers were just beginning to consider the possibility that healthy persons could also play a role. The excitement of discovering a new means of eliminating a dreaded disease had to be measured against the problems of detection, mass surveillance, detention, public ignorance, individual recalcitrance, and the skepticism that accompanied novel scientific paradigms. The ubiquitous, resilient, and protean nature of the rhetorical fabrication known as the "typhoid carrier" structurally required the complementary character of the determined health official. At a time when bacteriology needed legitimation and "public health" sought public recognition, Typhoid Mary was a rhetorical vessel that invited various publics to see the importance of giving medical power to health officials.
