Kansas' tuberculosis outbreak among largest in US history: Health officials

Kansas is facing one of the largest recorded tuberculosis outbreak in U.S. history, according to local health officials.

As of Jan. 24, there have been 67 confirmed cases of active TB including 60 in Wyandotte County and seven in Johnson County, according to the Kanas Department of Health and Environment.

Additionally, there are 79 confirmed latent TB cases, including 77 in Wyandotte County and two in Johnson County. Wyandotte County contains part of Kansas City and Johnson County is just southwest of Kansas City.

Cases linked to the outbreak were first reported in January 2024, according to KDHE. So far, there have been two deaths related to the outbreak, both of which occurred last year.

Although the ongoing Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is among the largest in recent history, the CDC clarifies today that it is not the "largest," in a statement to ABC News.

The new statement is contrary to a Kansas health officials statement Monday, which described the current TB outbreak as the "largest documented outbreak in U.S. history" since the CDC started keeping track in the 1950s.

In a rare statement amid a communications freeze for public health agencies, the CDC notes that a prior outbreak in 2015-2017 detected more than 170 active cases and 400 inactive cases in homeless shelters and a separate outbreak in 2021 detected 113 patients linked to a contaminated bone graft product - higher than the 67 active cases and 79 inactive cases currently reported in the Kansas outbreak.

The CDC also noted they have 4 agency staff members on-site to assistant local officials.

ABC News has reached back out to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for clarification but has not heard back as of this writing.

Health officials say the risk to people living in surrounding counties and to the general public is "very low," and that the department is following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TB is a disease caused by a type of bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, according to the CDC. It is one of the world's leading infectious disease killers, the federal health agency says.

TB is spread in the air from one person to another. When a person with TB coughs, speaks or sings, germs are expelled into the air -- where they can linger for several hours -- before another person breathes in the air and becomes infected.

Signs and symptoms include a cough that lasts for three weeks or longer, coughing up blood or phlegm, chest pain, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, chills and night sweats, according to the CDC.

Some people become infected with TB germs that live in the body for years without causing illness. This is known as inactive TB or latent TB.

People with inactive TB do not feel ill, do not have symptoms and cannot spread germs to other people, the CDC says. However, without receiving treatment, people with inactive TB can develop active TB.

Last year, the U.S. saw more than 8,700 cases of TB, according to CDC data. Although TB cases have been steadily declining since the mid 1990s, rates increased in 2021, 2022 and 2023, with 2023 matching pre-pandemic levels.

There are several treatment regimens for TB disease that may last anywhere from four months to nine months depending on the course of treatment. Health care providers may consider specific regimens for patients with co-existing medical conditions such as diabetes or HIV.

A vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is commonly given to children in countries where TB is common, although it is generally not recommended in the U.S. due to the low risk of infection with the bacteria, variable vaccine effectiveness among adults, and the vaccine's potential interference with TB tests, the CDC notes. The BCG vaccine often leaves a scar where the recipient was given the shot.