An upsurge in tuberculosis cases in Kansas has public health officials on edge, as at least 67 patients in the state are currently being treated for active infections.
Tracking by the state health department shows that another 79 people have been diagnosed with latent tuberculosis, which means the bacteria that causes the disease is inactive and the illness cannot spread.
Since January of last year, when cases related to this outbreak were first reported, two people have died.
Why This Tuberculosis Outbreak Is Unusual
Usually, outbreaks occur in restricted spaces — such as homeless shelters and prisons — where people can be exposed to bacteria for a prolonged period of time.
“Typically, in the past, we see disease spread in locations where people are kept close together, but there’s no indication right now that everyone is in a similar vicinity or proximity, such as a large apartment complex,” says Amit “Bobby” Mahajan, MD, a national spokesperson for the American Lung Association and the medical director for the Inova Interventional Pulmonology and Complex Airway Disease Program in Fairfax, Virginia.
He also calls this outbreak “odd” because related cases are being reported a year after the initial infections were detected.
“The situation is pretty aggressive in terms of what we see compared to the norm,” says Dr. Mahajan.
TB Risk to Public Remains Low
While this outbreak of tuberculosis is one of the largest in U.S. history, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) assures the public that the relative risk is low.
“KDHE has been leading the response to this outbreak and follows the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure patients are receiving proper treatment and to prevent additional cases from occurring,” announced the Wyandotte County government in a statement on Tuesday.
What Is Tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially fatal disease in which the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects the lungs. It can damage other parts of the body as well, including the brain, kidneys, and spine.
The bacteria that cause the disease can spread from person-to-person through the air. This may occur when someone with active TB coughs, speaks, or sings.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, warns that the effects of the illness are often miserable and long-lasting.
“With the typical lung infection, you’re going to have prolonged symptoms of cough — maybe bloody cough, night sweats, and weight loss, which can last weeks to months,” he says. “And these [symptoms] are going to be prolonged — over weeks to months. It's not just going to be a week or 10 days.”
Other symptoms to look for include chest pain, fever, and chills.
TB Isn’t as Contagious as Other Respiratory Illnesses
While tuberculosis is a serious disease, it’s not as transmissible as flu, COVID-19, measles, and other illnesses.
“It is very difficult to contract tuberculosis,” says Dr. Hawkinson. “Certainly we know tuberculosis is spread through the air, but it is difficult to catch this infection, even when you’re in a room with somebody who’s coughing.”
Infection requires consistent exposure to the contagious person for a long time. For that reason, you’re more likely to catch TB from a relative than a stranger.
Still, if you have been around anyone who has been infected and you are experiencing symptoms, Hawkinson urges you to go to a doctor and get checked out.
Blood and skin tests to identify infections and treatments are available for those diagnosed with the disease.
How Prevalent Is Tuberculosis?
For years, the United States has had one of the lowest tuberculosis rates in the world, and in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported TB cases dropped substantially. Research published last year, however, found that cases have increased every year since 2020.
During 2023, a total of 9,615 TB cases were reported in the United States, a 16 percent increase from 2022. TB disease was responsible for 565 deaths nationwide in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.
Worldwide, tuberculosis rates are high. The World Health Organization estimates that 10.6 million people fell ill with TB in 2022. The CDC suggests that TB incidents in the U.S. are much lower due to more extensive public health programs to detect the disease and the availability of effective treatments.
Mahajan says drug resistance to TB is beginning to “creep in,” but the treatments available now are overall highly successful.
While an effective vaccine is available for TB, people in the United States don’t receive it routinely because of the relatively low infection rate in this country.
Public Health Departments Lead the Fight Against TB
At the moment, the investigation into the Kansas outbreak is still ongoing and scientists have yet to determine what’s driving the spread.
Peter Chin-Hong, MD, an infectious-disease specialist and a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, suggests that cutbacks in public health funding in recent years may have played a role.
“We need to have well-funded public health departments to identify and treat people who are infected,” he says. “In addition, during the COVID response for the past few years, reduced access to medical care may have led to fewer people being screened and identified with infection in the community, and even more resources were diverted from TB control in the community.”
“As long as we have the appropriate state and national resources to educate people, and the ability to treat this aggressively with medications, I don’t think there should be anything to worry about,” Mahajan says.
Emily Kay Votruba has copyedited and fact-checked for national magazines, websites, and books since 1997, including Self, GQ, Gourmet, Golf Magazine,Outside, Cornell University Press, Penguin Random House, and Harper's Magazine. Her projects have included cookbooks (Padma Lakshmi's Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet), self-help and advice titles (Mika Brzezinski's Know Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You're Worth), memoirs (Larry King's My Remarkable Journey), and science (Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy Davidson). She started freelancing for Everyday Health in 2016.
Don Rauf has been a freelance health writer for over 12 years and his writing has been featured in HealthDay, CBS News, WebMD, U.S. News & World Report, Mental Floss, United Press International (UPI), Health, and MedicineNet. He was previously a reporter for DailyRx.com where he covered stories related to cardiology, diabetes, lung cancer, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, menopause, and allergies. He has interviewed doctors and pharmaceutical representatives in the U.S. and abroad.
He is a prolific writer and has written more than 50 books, including Lost America: Vanished Civilizations, Abandoned Towns, and Roadside Attractions. Rauf lives in Seattle, Washington.
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