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HAB911

(9,462 posts) Sat Jan 25, 2025, 12:40 PM Jan 25

Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is now America's largest in recorded history

An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States.

"Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they've ever had in history," Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.

As of Jan. 17, public health officials reported that they had documented 66 active cases and 79 latent infections in the Kansas City, Kansas, metro area since 2024. Most of the cases have been in Wyandotte County, with a handful in Johnson County.

"The current KCK Metro TB outbreak is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history, presently," Bronaugh said in a statement to The Capital-Journal. "This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time. This outbreak is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases. There are a few other states that currently have large outbreaks that are also ongoing."

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2025/01/24/kansas-tuberculosis-outbreak-is-largest-in-recorded-history-in-u-s/77881467007/

21 replies

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Highlight:

Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is now America's largest in recorded history (Original Post) HAB911 Jan 25 OP

Nope, MAGA doesn't report anything anymore. Move along, nothing to see here. dem4decades Jan 25 #1

RFK jr has a plan Historic NY Jan 25 #2

Yes, to stop research on infectious diseases like TB. LisaL Jan 25 #3

Whats next black death, Historic NY Jan 25 #4

We wont be getting updates about it via the CDC now that it's been muzzled by criminal Trump Blues Heron Jan 25 #5

Impeach him because that did a fat lot of good the last two times? Maru Kitteh Jan 25 #16

What was the phrase, "within a couple of days it will be down close to zero"? RockRaven Jan 25 #6

Great, we'll have to be worried about TB sakabatou Jan 25 #7

Uggh, that Kansas Health offficials felt the need to include this sentence: hlthe2b Jan 25 #8

If only there was a way to prevent this... Wounded Bear Jan 25 #9

If only MAGAT's could be targeted with this. Sorry, zero empathy for anyone NoMoreRepugs Jan 25 #10

First of all, I call BS on biggest outbreak given TB deaths in 1800s JT45242 Jan 25 #11

I dunno, even about that. My mom was a nurse in a TB hospital in Kearney, Nebraska in the1950's. Maru Kitteh Jan 25 #15

Even by the end of the 1950s, national TB rates were 32.4 per 100,000 muriel_volestrangler Jan 25 #18

Was puzzled by that, too. We used to have TB tests in Florida in the late 50s, early 60s. allegorical oracle Jan 25 #19

One is a fatal disease and the other is Tuberculosis. twodogsbarking Jan 25 #12

I know people whose relatives died from tuberculosis. The actress Vivien Leigh died of allegorical oracle Jan 25 #20

You win. Relax. twodogsbarking Jan 25 #21

Not just tuberculosis, MDR-TB. Likely originated in Russian prisons or Dharavi. Maru Kitteh Jan 25 #13

What we are now undergoing is Social Darwinism. ananda Jan 25 #14

White Horse Souse blames it on illegals in 3...2..1 superpatriotman Jan 25 #17

dem4decades

(12,223 posts)

1. Nope, MAGA doesn't report anything anymore. Move along, nothing to see here.

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 12:43 PM

Jan 25

Historic NY

(38,374 posts)

2. RFK jr has a plan

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 12:43 PM

Jan 25

LisaL

(46,956 posts)

3. Yes, to stop research on infectious diseases like TB.

Reply to Historic NY (Reply #2)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 12:45 PM

Jan 25

Historic NY

(38,374 posts)

4. Whats next black death,

Reply to LisaL (Reply #3)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 12:50 PM

Jan 25

Brucellosis, leprosy, scarlet fever, Justinianic plague.

Blues Heron

(6,314 posts)

5. We wont be getting updates about it via the CDC now that it's been muzzled by criminal Trump

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 01:02 PM

Jan 25

Someone impeach him, Quick!

Maru Kitteh

(29,493 posts)

16. Impeach him because that did a fat lot of good the last two times?

Reply to Blues Heron (Reply #5)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 03:45 PM

Jan 25

What I wish someone would do doesn’t have to be voted on, and beyond the reach of any pardon.

RockRaven

(16,783 posts)

6. What was the phrase, "within a couple of days it will be down close to zero"?

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 01:07 PM

Jan 25

Get ready to revisit that old chestnut.

sakabatou

(43,841 posts)

7. Great, we'll have to be worried about TB

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 01:08 PM

Jan 25

and possibly other diseases becoming pandemics.

hlthe2b

(107,627 posts)

8. Uggh, that Kansas Health offficials felt the need to include this sentence:

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 02:03 PM

Jan 25

"Some of you are aware, we have and still have mobilized staff and resources addressing an unprecedented tuberculosis outbreak in one of our counties," Goss told lawmakers. "We are working collaboratively with CDC on that. CDC remains on the ground with us to support. That's not a negative. This is normal when there's something unprecedented or a large outbreak of any kind, they will come and lend resources to us to help get a stop to that. We are trending in the right direction right now."

THAT just makes me GD crazy! What Trump, RFK JR and all that MAGAT crowd have done to destroy Public Health in this country is going to harm us all for generations! I am so damned angry.

MMWR should be reporting on the epidemiology of this outbreak. Oh, yeah.. incommunicado per order of der Fuehrer.

Wounded Bear

(61,176 posts)

9. If only there was a way to prevent this...

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 02:05 PM

Jan 25

NoMoreRepugs

(10,915 posts)

10. If only MAGAT's could be targeted with this. Sorry, zero empathy for anyone

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 03:17 PM

Jan 25

that happens to be a SlobFather voter.

JT45242

(3,087 posts)

11. First of all, I call BS on biggest outbreak given TB deaths in 1800s

Reply to HAB911 (Original post)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 03:19 PM

Jan 25

Maybe the mist since we could accurately count them. But given the large number of deaths fewer than 100 cases cannot be possibly larger than the TB outbreaks in the POW camps of the civil war or many other outbreaks historically.

But to say it's the worst since 1900 is likely accurate.

Maru Kitteh

(29,493 posts)

15. I dunno, even about that. My mom was a nurse in a TB hospital in Kearney, Nebraska in the1950's.

Reply to JT45242 (Reply #11)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 03:39 PM

Jan 25

Seems to me, in order for there to be enough patients to even take care of in Kearney Nebraska in the early 50’s, there must have been a fair bit of it around.

muriel_volestrangler

(102,947 posts)

18. Even by the end of the 1950s, national TB rates were 32.4 per 100,000

Reply to JT45242 (Reply #11)

Sat Jan 25, 2025, 03:48 PM

Jan 25

https://www.cdc.gov/tb-surveillance-report-2023/tables/table-1.html

(that's when the article says it's counting CDC monitoring and reporting from)

Over 57,000 in the country. So yeah, it's not "in US history". It might be "in Kansas City, since the 1950s". If they had been really lucky - KCK metro population was about 800,000 in the 50s, so with the national rate, that would be about 250 for KCK metro.

Does their "since 2024" mean "in the 24 days of January 2025 so far", or "in 2024 plus those 24 days"?