Kansas sees major TB outbreak

TB is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which lives in the lungs and spreads through the air when people with an active infection speak or cough. It is the leading cause of infectious disease deaths worldwide, killing 1.25 million people in 2023.

In the United States, cases of TB have steadily declined since the mid-1990s but increased each year from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, there were over 8,700 reported cases of TB in the United States.

TB can take two forms, active and latent. In active TB, a person experiences symptoms, such as a long-lasting cough, coughing up blood of phlegm, chest pain, weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, chills, and night sweats. In comparison, people with latent TB do not experience any symptoms and cannot spread the bacteria to others.

Currently, Kansas is seeing a major outbreak of TB, which started last January. As of Jan. 24, 67 people were being treated for active TB infections, with the majority of patients located in Wyandotte County. An additional 79 patients have latent TB infections, and two deaths have been associated with the outbreak.

Dana Hawkinson, director of infection prevention and control for the University of Kansas Health System, said he usually sees "a handful of cases of active tuberculosis" every year, but the current outbreak has been different due to "the scope and the numbers." He added that the high case counts in this outbreak were a "stark warning."

According to CDC, the current outbreak in Kansas is one of the largest outbreaks in U.S. history. Some other recent outbreaks of TB include one in 2015 at a homeless shelter, which led to over 170 active infections, and one in 2021 linked to contaminated bone graft tissue, which led to 113 infections.

Treatment for TB, which includes antibiotics, can last anywhere from four to nine months. According to Hawkinson, treatment for a serious case of TB will usually last around six months.

There is also a vaccine for TB, but it is not typically used in United States due to the low risk of TB infection, varying vaccine effectiveness among adults, and the vaccine's potential to interfere with TB tests.

Although the risk of TB infection to the general public is currently "very low," Bronaugh noted the outbreak in Kansas "is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases."

There have also been concerns from healthcare organizations about the lack of information being shared at the national level, especially amid a communications pause at federal health agencies.

"Information exchange really matters and helps to shape and guide these outbreaks, and we're having a lull in that right now, which makes it concerning if we're missing out on any important updates or things that could impact how people are addressing disease, the spread of it, what to look for and how to stop it," said Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.