Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas City largest documented on record in the United States

TB X-rays TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs. It is caused by bacteria that spreads through the air when infected people cough, speak or sing. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas City, Kansas, has become the largest documented on record in the United States.
  • As of Jan. 24, 2025, there have been 67 active cases reported in Wyandotte County (60) and Johnson County (7) since January 2024, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).
  • There have also been 79 latent, or asymptomatic, tuberculosis (TB) infections reported over the last year, including 77 in Wyandotte County and two in Johnson County.
  • In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, KDHE confirmed that the outbreak is “still ongoing, which means there could be more cases.”
  • TB is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs, according to KDHE. It is caused by bacteria that spreads through the air when infected people cough, speak or sing.
  • It is not spread by kissing, shaking hands, sharing food and drink, or touching objects, the same source stated.
  • TB symptoms can include coughing, chest pain, coughing up blood or mucus, fatigue, weight loss, fever and night sweats.
  • “One simple blood test can identify this sleeping killer before it awakes, and one course of antibiotics can stop it from infecting the people we love,” she said.
  • A person with active TB will no longer be infectious “shortly after beginning treatment” with antibiotics, according to KDHE.
  • Wendy Thanassi, M.D., senior medical director of TB and Infectious diseases at QIAGEN North America
    • “Kansas is not alone in its battle against TB, which kills more than a million people each year,” said the San Francisco-based doctor.

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