The Kansas City area is facing one of the country’s largest outbreaks of tuberculosis in recent years. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as of Jan. 24, there have been 67 confirmed cases of active TB in the state,

Common symptoms of active TB include coughing, chest pains, fever, fatigue and coughing up blood or phlegm. The airborne respiratory illness is usually transmitted during prolonged close contact with an infected person.

More than 60 people were being treated in the Kansas City area as of Friday, according to the state health department.

A wave of tuberculosis cases hitting the Kansas City, Kansas, metro area has become the largest documented TB outbreak in the United States since monitoring began in the 1950s, according to the state health department.

Kansas is currently facing one the largest tuberculosis outbreaks in U.S. history with 67 confirmed active cases and 79 confirmed latent cases.

Kansas is experiencing record-high tuberculosis cases in two counties. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and a TB expert weigh in on the public risk.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarified the Kansas outbreak isn’t the largest in modern history. Outbreaks between 2015 and 2017, in Georgia homeless shelters, and a 2021 nationwide outbreak resulting from patients infected from contaminated bone grafts have been larger, the federal agency said in an email.

State and local public health officials in Kansas are responding to a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in the Kansas City area, where approximately 70 patients are being treated for active disease, according to a press release from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s (KDHE’s) Division of Public Health.

An outbreak of the infectious lung disease TB in Kansas is one of the largest ever recorded in the US. As of January 24, Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas had reported 67 active cases of TB. The US outbreak began in 2024,

Health officials in this U.S. state are reporting the largest tuberculosis outbreak in American history. Here's what to know about this lung disease.

Healthline also offers the following tips for preventing TB infections: Wash your hands often and cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly to keep your immune system strong.