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

No, you probably didn’t get tuberculosis at Sunday’s Chiefs game. A yearlong outbreak of the bacterial infection in the Kansas City metropolitan area has raised concerns about spread locally and nationally.

You don’t need to have the vaccine to attend colleges in Kansas, but some do require you to get tested for tuberculosis before enrolling and going to classes on campus, like at the University of Kansas.

Tuberculosis cases linked to an ongoing outbreak in the Kansas City area continue to climb. The outbreak, which began a year ago, killed two people in 2024.

Kansas is currently experiencing a rare outbreak of tuberculosis (TB), the world’s deadliest infectious disease. TB is spread via germs in the air and usually affects the lungs but can also affect the brain, the kidneys or the spine.

A tuberculosis outbreak that began a year ago in two counties in the Kansas City, Kan., area has caused 67 active cases and 79 latent cases of the disease. Two deaths have been reported. But public health officials say the risk to the public remains low.

Kansas City-area residents may be alarmed to hear that Wyandotte County is at the epicenter of the largest recorded tuberculosis outbreak in U.S. history, according to state health officials. Fortunately, they say the health risk remains very low.

An outbreak of the infectious lung disease TB in Kansas is one of the largest ever recorded in the US. What is TB, and why have cases risen since the COVID-19 pandemic?

Stay informed about the ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas City. Learn about the symptoms, confirmed cases, and precautions to take.

There is a vaccine aimed at preventing TB called Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), but it’s not commonly used in the U.S., according to the CDC. However, many people born outside the U.S. have gotten the vaccine.

The United States is experiencing one of its largest outbreaks of tuberculosis since the CDC began reporting in the 1950s.