Kansas Health Officials Are Battling An ‘Unprecedented’ Tuberculosis Outbreak, One state health worker called it "the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history."

Health officials in Kansas say they are battling an “unprecedented” tuberculosis outbreak that’s infected at least 146 people in the state’s northeast.

As of Friday, there have been 67 confirmed active cases of the bacterial disease, commonly known as TB, in the Kansas City metro area since 2024, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported. Sixty of these active cases are in Wyandotte County, and the remaining seven are in Johnson County.

An additional 79 inactive infections, where the person shows no symptoms, have been confirmed in the same areas, with 77 in Wyandotte County and two in Johnson County, the health department said.

“The current [Kansas City] Metro TB outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, presently,” Jill Bronaugh, a KDHE spokesperson, told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kansas-tuberculosis-outbreak_n_6797e43fe4b0792017b7955d