TB Outbreak in Kansas Is Biggest in US Records

Kansas City sees 67 active cases going back to last year
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2025 7:41 AM CST
TB Outbreak in Kansas Is Biggest on US Record
   (Getty / Gilnature)

Health officials in Kansas City, Kansas, are trying to tame an outbreak of tuberculosis that has become the largest ever recorded in the nation, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. The city has 67 active cases reported since last year, along with 79 inactive, or latent, infections, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The vast majority are in Wyandotte County. "The current KCK Metro TB outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in US history," says Jill Bronaugh, a KDHE spokesperson. "This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time." The CDC began monitoring TB in the 1950s.

Tuberculosis is a caused by a bacterium and usually affects the lungs, according to a CDC explainer. It's spread by people with active infections through the air, and while it can be fatal if untreated, a course of antibiotics typically clears it up within two weeks. Those with inactive infections can't spread it, but they can develop the disease at any time. Another KDHE official, Ashley Goss, described the outbreak as "unprecedented" to lawmakers last week, per KSHB. However, she added that the numbers have been "trending in the right direction" of late. The agency considers the risk to the general public to be "very low." (More tuberculosis stories.)

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