The wider Kansas City area has seen over 60 active cases since 2024.
Tuberculosis (TB) is often thought of as a disease of the past, or one that is confined only to certain countries – but a recent outbreak in Kansas is proving that is far from the case. According to local health officials, it’s the largest documented TB outbreak in US history.
Data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) shows that, as of January 24, 2025, the state has seen 67 active cases and 79 latent cases of TB in the Kansas City area since 2024.
“The current KCK Metro TB outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, presently,” Jill Bronaugh, a KDHE spokesperson, said in a statement to The Capital-Journal. “This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time.”
It’s possible that there have been larger outbreaks in the US, given that TB death rates in American cities during the 18th and 19th centuries are thought to have been similar to the 800 to 1,000 per 100,000 cases a year in many European cities at the same time. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only started officially recording TB cases in 1953.
The current outbreak “is still ongoing,” said Bronaugh, “which means that there could be more cases.” Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary at the KDHE added: “[B]ut we’re hoping the more that we find is latent TB not active, so that their lives are not disrupted and having to stay home from work. Because it is highly contagious.”
“Active” means that the bacteria behind the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are multiplying. This can cause symptoms such as a long-lasting cough (which can sometimes bring up phlegm or blood), fatigue, chest pain, and fever, and can also mean that the disease can be spread to others.
In latent or inactive TB, the bacteria are still in the body, but they don’t make someone sick, and the disease can’t be spread. However, inactive TB can develop into active TB at any time if it isn’t treated.
The good news is that TB is curable (and preventable), and according to Goss, the situation in Kansas is “trending in the right direction right now.”
However, in the wider US, TB appears to be a growing problem. As per the CDC, cases of TB in the country have been increasing every year since 2020, with cases jumping from 8,320 in 2022 to 9,615 in 2023.
Worldwide, there were an estimated 10.8 million cases of TB in 2023, and 1.25 million deaths – this has placed it back at the top as the world’s leading infectious disease killer.
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