A US State Just Reported One Of The Largest Tuberculosis Outbreaks In American History

Editor’s note: The original headline for this article indicated that this is the largest tuberculosis outbreak in US history; however, there were two other outbreaks that had more cases. The headline has been changed to reflect this.

Two counties in Kansas are seeing an unprecedented number of tuberculosis cases with 67 active infections as of January 24, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). There are also 79 latent tuberculosis infections in these two counties that make up part of the Kansas City, Kansas metropolitan area. So far, two people have died as a result of the outbreak.

KDHE communications director Jill Bronaugh told CIDRAP News that this tuberculosis outbreak is the worst since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began tracking tuberculosis cases in the United States. However, the CDC told the Associated Press that there were two larger outbreaks involving 170 people at a Georgia homeless shelter and 113 patients who received contaminated tissue from bone transplants.

KDHE is working to contain the outbreak by treating the current tuberculosis cases. Bronaugh says the general public in the Kansas City area has a low risk of becoming infected.

According to the CDC, tuberculosis cases have steadily declined since 1993 and reached their lowest in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, however, it has been on the rise. There were more than 9,600 cases in 2023, more than a 15% jump from 2022. The World Health Organization says more people die of tuberculosis each year than any other infectious disease.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection in the lungs, but it can also affect the brain, kidneys, or lymph nodes. Tuberculosis spreads when you breathe in the air of an infected person, such as when the person coughs or speaks. The bacteria that causes tuberculosis can linger in the air for several hours, which makes tuberculosis infections more likely in places with poor ventilation.

There are 67 active tuberculosis infections in the Kansas City area, meaning these people are experiencing symptoms such as chest pain, coughing up blood, and weakness. Because their infections are active, they can spread the disease to others. People with weakened immune systems are at risk of an active tuberculosis infection. The CDC says that diabetes was the most common risk factor for tuberculosis in 2023.

Not everyone infected with tuberculosis develops symptoms. A latent infection occurs when the bacteria are present in the body but remain inactive, causing no illness and posing no risk of transmission. Without proper treatment, latent tuberculosis can become active. Treating tuberculosis — both active and latent — involves several months of drug treatment to kill the bacteria.