Kansas Tuberculosis Outbreak: Latest Updates and Insights
A spokesperson from the CDC has stated that the agency is actively addressing the situation but clarified that it is not the largest outbreak in U.S. history, contrary to some claims.
An ongoing yearlong outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in the Kansas City, Kansas, area has resulted in at least two fatalities and provoked assertions that it is the most severe TB outbreak in U.S. history.
Some health officials from Kansas have referred to the outbreak as “the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history” since the CDC began tracking TB cases in the 1950s. Nonetheless, the CDC has contested this assertion.
A CDC representative informed The Epoch Times on Wednesday that the Kansas outbreak is not the most significant in U.S. history, highlighting that a Georgia outbreak from 2015 to 2017 led to “more than 170 cases of TB disease and over 400 instances of inactive TB.”
In addition, a nationwide TB outbreak involving 113 individuals occurred in 2021 “following the surgical implantation of contaminated bone allografts,” the spokesperson noted.
Outbreak Details
According to an update on Wednesday, the Kansas Division of Public Health reported that the outbreak is primarily located in Wyandotte County and poses a “very low risk to the general public, including neighboring counties.”
As of now, 60 individuals have been confirmed with active tuberculosis in Wyandotte County, with an additional seven cases reported in Johnson County since 2024. Concurrently, there have been 79 cases of latent tuberculosis since 2024, with 77 in Wyandotte County and two in Johnson County.
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Since the outbreak began in January 2024, it has claimed two lives, according to Kansas state health department representative Jill Bronaugh.
The state health agency has yet to provide further details regarding the cause of the outbreak or whether it is linked to a specific facility.
However, there are signs of improvement. “We are heading in the right direction right now,” Ashley Goss, deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, stated to the state Senate’s Committee on Public Health and Welfare on January 21.
Understanding Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, commonly referred to as TB, is caused by a specific type of bacteria that can be transmitted through prolonged close contact with someone who has an active infection, characterized by visible symptoms. People carrying latent tuberculosis cannot spread the bacteria, but they can if the disease becomes active, officials explain.
In its active form, TB symptoms include a persistent cough, sometimes with blood in the sputum, night sweats, fever, weight loss, and swollen lymph nodes. In the latent stage, the bacteria remain dormant in the lungs or other areas of the body without causing any symptoms.
Tuberculosis can also spread beyond the lungs to other body parts, potentially causing different symptoms.
Global Perspective: A Larger Issue
While TB is infrequent in the United States, it remains the leading infectious disease killer around the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2023, it resulted in 1.25 million deaths and infected 8 million individuals worldwide.
“This marks a noticeable rise from the 7.5 million reported in 2022, reinstating TB as the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing COVID-19,” the WHO declared in a statement late last year.
This report includes contributions from the Associated Press.
