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.

In a state Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare meeting, Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told committee members the outbreak is

An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in two Kansas counties has sickened dozens since January 2024. Health officials are raising the alarm over a large and ongoing tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Kansas.

A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has killed two people and caused at least 146 to become infected with the potentially deadly respiratory disease during one of the largest outbreaks in the nation's history.

Kansas health officials are tackling the largest tuberculosis outbreak in US history, with 67 confirmed cases since the start of 2025.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has said the risk to the general public in surrounding counties remains “very low.”

“While TB cases in Wyandotte and Johnson counties are getting attention, we want to assure our residents that what we’re seeing in Saline County is normal,” said Jason Tiller, Saline County Health Officer. “There is no immediate reason for concern. TB is preventable, treatable, and does not pose a general risk to the public.”

The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (JCDHE) says all TB patients in the county have completed treatment and are not infectious

Kansas is currently grappling with its largest tuberculosis outbreak since the 1950s, with 67 confirmed cases predominantly in Wyandotte County. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has reported two fatalities in 2024 linked to the outbreak,

“Things like influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and those common cough and cold viruses they are still at fairly high levels in the United States. You are at significantly more at risk of getting one of those infections than you are tuberculosis,” Hawkinson said.

Submitted Despite an ongoing tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Wyandotte and Johnson counties, health officials say there is no indication of increased TB cases in Saline County.