Kansas public health officials say the state's ongoing tuberculosis outbreak is the largest since the CDC started reporting TB cases in the 1950s.
www.cjonline.com
Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is now America's largest in recorded history
Jason Alatidd
Topeka Capital-Journal
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An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States.
"Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they've ever had in history," Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.
As of Jan. 17,
public health officials reported that they had documented 66 active cases and 79 latent infections in the Kansas City, Kansas, metro area since 2024. Most of the cases have been in Wyandotte County, with a handful in Johnson County.
Jill Bronaugh, a KDHE spokesperson, confirmed Goss's statement afterward.
"The current KCK Metro TB outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, presently," Bronaugh said in a statement to The Capital-Journal. "This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time. This outbreak is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases. There are a few other states that currently have large outbreaks that are also ongoing."
She noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started monitoring and reporting tuberculosis cases in the U.S. in the 1950s.
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium that typically affects the lungs,
according to KDHE. People with an active infection feel sick and can spread it to others, while people with a latent infection don't feel sick and can't spread it. Tuberculosis is spread person-to-person through the air when a person with an active infection coughs, speaks or sings. It is treatable with antibiotics.
State public health officials say there is "very low risk to the general public."
KDHE reportable infectious disease statistics show that statewide there were 51 active cases in 2023. That jumped to 109 in 2024. There has been one so far in 2025.
"Some of you are aware, we have and still have mobilized staff and resources addressing an unprecedented tuberculosis outbreak in one of our counties," Goss told lawmakers. "We are working collaboratively with CDC on that. CDC remains on the ground with us to support. That's not a negative. This is normal when there's something unprecedented or a large outbreak of any kind, they will come and lend resources to us to help get a stop to that. We are trending in the right direction right now."
Goss said that when KDHE got involved with the Kansas City outbreak last summer, there were 65 active cases and roughly the same number of latent cases. She said the number is now down to about 32 active cases.
For active patients, after 10 days of taking medications and having three sputum tests, they will generally no longer be able to transmit tuberculosis.
"They're no longer contagious," Goss said. "They can go about their lives, they don't have to stay away from people, and they can go back to work, do the things, as long as they continue to take their meds."
The course of treatment is several months long for active and latent cases.
"We still have a couple of fairly large employers that are involved that we're working with on this," Goss said. "So we do expect to find more, but we're hoping the more that we find is latent TB not active, so that their lives are not disrupted and having to stay home from work. Because it is highly contagious."
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
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