Sanitation In The 1800s

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Today, urban sanitation practices are complex and well-developed, making sure that local water reserves, processed food and produce, as well as waste disposal, do not give rise to detrimental illnesses among Americans. However, immense efforts that transformed the US into the sanitary society that it is today. In the 1800’s and 1900’s, mortality rates were high, infection was likely, and medicinal practices were primitive. Diseases such as typhoid fever and salmonella were responsible for killing many Americans. However, a different situation for diseases was brought into light: the concept of a disease carrier. This idea was not prevalent until the case of Mary Mallon. Mallon was the first documented case of an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid …show more content…
This included many impoverished immigrants who came over to the US, such as Mallon, an Irish immigrant. Sanitary/sufficient housing also became a bigger problem. There was an absence of plumbing, waste disposal methods were not up to code, and people were not enlightened with the idea of washing their hands. New York, during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, was reportedly still using rivers for sewage purposes. As a result of crowding, the spread of diseases was inevitable and sanitation efforts were not strong enough to cope with these problems. In terms of food safety and precaution, “little was known about the scientific basis for food spoilage until laboratory research by Louis Pasteur provided insight into both the causes of food spoilage and measures that could be taken to improve the food safety process” (Hoag and Keske). However, the spread of diseases led to various endeavors to find out more about them. Soon, scientists and doctors were able to identify the two types of epidemics: communicable and noncommunicable. A communicable epidemic is an epidemic that spreads through the transmission of infectious agents directly or indirectly from one person to another. On the other hand, a …show more content…
In general, “the rich had the advantage of more resources with their money, meaning they could afford to place their wealth towards possibly prolonging their life ”(Shumsky). The poorer, blue-collared members of society such as Mallon could not place large amounts of money towards advancing healthcare and helping others, which made it hard for her to understand that she was being quarantined in order to help other people. Mallon was was single, meaning she only had to care about herself and not other family members. With no family members or relatives for social or financial support, she was keen on being able to live for herself. As a woman with cooking skills, being a cook for rich families seemed ideal to her as cooking provided a relatively higher salary for women when compared to other jobs. Despite being told not to return to cooking after her court statement from quarantine, she came back to the profession in order to work for the monetary gains. Furthermore, Mary’s decision to stand up for herself was influenced by her gender. “According to health officials, women carriers of typhoid fever were more dangerous than men in part because cooking, an activity that provided one of the easiest routes of bacilli transmission, was a traditional female activity” (Leavitt 97). As a result, many more women were placed on “healthy carrier rosters”,
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