A tuberculosis outbreak that has infected 67 people in the greater Kansas City metro area is the largest in US history, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment and reported by multiple media outlets.

According to statistics on the KDHE website, as of January 24, 2025, a total of 67 outbreak-associated active cases have been documented in two Kansas counties: Wyandotte County (60) and Johnson County (7).

That total is the largest number of cases associated with a tuberculosis outbreak in the US since TB statistics have been recorded.

US News reports that KDHE communications director Jill Bronaugh said in an email that the area’s current TB outbreak marks “the largest documented outbreak in US history, presently since the (1950s), when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started monitoring and reporting TB cases.”

Read the US News report.

According to KDHE, there are two types of TB infection:

1) active TB disease, which makes people feel sick and can be spread to others and

2) latent TB infection, which is inactive, doesn’t make people feel sick, and can’t be spread to others.

CDC statistics reported 9,633 cases in 2023, with an incidence rate of 2.9 cases per 100,000 persons, representing a 15.6% increase in case count and 15.0% increase in incidence rate compared with 2022.

The department cautions that risk to the general public remains low.

“While there is a very low risk of infection to the general public in these communities, KDHE is working to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate treatment, which will limit the ability to spread this disease and prevent additional cases from occurring,” Bronaugh told Univ of Minnesota’s CIDRAP.

Read the CIDRAP report.