‘Unprecedented’ TB outbreak recorded in Kansas with nearly 70 cases reported

An unprecedented wave of tuberculosis infections has struck the state of Kansas as nearly 70 cases have been recorded, say officials.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced 67 active outbreak cases and 79 latent infections in Kansas City, Kansas, as of Friday since 2024. The majority of cases were declared to have broken out in Wyandotte County and Johnson County, just west and southwest of the metro area.

KDHE Deputy Secretary Ashley Goss told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Tuesday: “Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they’ve ever had in history.”

But despite this, officials stated that the outbreak had a very low risk to the general public and surrounding counties.

In September 2023, a CDC report revealed that an outbreak of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB had driven up cases from 2019–2021 when recorded cases were between 37– 43 – a number that increased to 52 in 2022. Thirteen people in four low-income households in Kansas were said to have contracted the anti-biotic resistant disease.