CAUSES OF DEATH

Rosa LaMura
born July 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
died June 2, 1906 in Brooklyn, NY

Father: Catello LaMura (1867-1943)
Mother: Carmela Lanzaro (1869-1930)

Cause of death: Typhoid Fever

Her death certificate identifies her as Rosie. Although the document states she was 14 years old, she was actually almost 12 years old. She lived with her parents at 57 Van Brunt Street in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Catello and Carmela already had two children born in Italy when they arrived in New York in 1892. Rosie was the first LaMura born in America.

Typhoid fever is a common worldwide illness caused by poor sanitary conditions and transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall infecting the victim. The fever is characterized by a slowly progressive fever as high as 104 °F, profuse sweating, gastroenteritis, and nonbloody diarrhea. Less commonly, a rash of flat, rose-colored spots may appear.

Flying insects feeding on feces may occasionally transfer the bacteria through poor hygiene habits and public sanitation conditions. Public education campaigns encouraging people to wash their hands after defecating and before handling food are an important component in controlling spread of the disease. According to statistics from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the chlorination of drinking water led to dramatic decreases in the transmission of typhoid fever in the U.S.

Rosie may have contracted the disease during the typhoid epidemic that swept through New York City and Long Island around the time of her death. The epidemic was blamed on one woman, Mary Mallon, better known as "Typhoid Mary."

Typically, the disease runs through 4 stages, each lasting about a week. Therefore, in terminal cases such as Rosie's, the patient dies after 4 weeks of progressively painful stages of the fever, finally resulting in intestinal hemmoraging and dilerium.

Rosie became the first LaMura to be buried at the family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.

LANZARA-LANZARO FAMILY WEBPAGE