In 1937, a man employed to lay water pipes was found to be the source of a severe epidemic of typhoid fever. The man, an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid, habitually urinated at his job site. In the process, he contaminated the town’s water supply with bacteria from his bladder. Over 300 cases of typhoid fever developed, and 43 people died before the man was identified as the carrier.

Given that antibiotics were not generally available in 1937, how could health officials end the epidemic, short of removing the man from the job site?