Public health officials in Kansas are calling a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in northeast Kansas “unprecedented.”

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reports 67 active TB cases in the Kansas City metro area, up from 66 earlier this year. Wyandotte County accounts for 60 of these cases, while seven are in Johnson County.

In a Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee meeting, KDHE Deputy Secretary Ashley Goss stated the department is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to manage the situation.

TB, a bacterial infection primarily affecting the lungs, spreads through the air when infected individuals cough, sneeze, or spit. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 25% of the global population carries TB bacteria. In 2023, an estimated 10.8 million people worldwide fell ill with TB, resulting in 1.25 million deaths.

Despite the outbreak, KDHE reassures the public that the risk to surrounding counties remains “very low.”