TB Outbreak in Kansas City

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Specializes in Critical Care, Procedural, Care Coordination, LNC.

Have you heard about the TB outbreak in Kansas City?

With all the news covering the outbreak this past week, we wanted to give you a quick rundown.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in collaboration with the CDC and local health teams, is overseeing the response to a TB outbreak in the Kansas City, Kansas Metropolitan area.

The response began back in January 2024, and as of January 31, 2025, there are 67 confirmed active TB cases and 79 latent TB cases, mostly in Wyandotte County.

Stay Vigilant: TB Risk Remains Low, but Monitoring is Key

While the public risk is low, we still need to stay vigilant

  • TB spreads through prolonged contact with someone who has active TB.
  • If you suspect a case, make sure to report it to KDHE within 4 hours.

For full details on what to look for, how to report, and how to protect yourself and your patients, head over to the Kansas Department of Health website. Let's stay informed and keep our communities safe!

Kansas City Nurses - Share Your Insights

  • Do you have any insights?
  • Have you seen any TB cases? 

 

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

As home care RN, I do TB screening on all our direct care staff yearly post initial employment TB test.  Picked up one case in past 5 years in Philadelphia.  It's out there so always be on the lookout.

2025: TB turns deadly in Kansas; is tuberculosis a concern in NJ, Pennsylvania, Delaware?

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...While TB is not spreading at outbreak levels in the Northeast, it is still diagnosed regularly. In 2023, there were more than 500 TB cases in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, public health data reports.

Earlier this month, a western Pennsylvania community was on alert after a high school student diagnosed with TB went back to school before being medically cleared.

 

 

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Specializes in Hospice.

I worked for years in a state public health hospital on both a dedicated Tb unit and a dedicated AIDS unit. Here's hoping that the strain in Kansas is not multi drug resistant. Clinical tb is no joke. I've heard it called one of the most lethal infections on the planet.

This is no time for loony theories about masking and infection control. We have centuries of experience with this disease and know how to both treat it and prevent transmission.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Procedural, Care Coordination, LNC.

@NRSKarenRN Great point! I came across my first patient with TB in Philadelphia back in 2007 when I was in nursing school during my nurse externship. 

@heron oof a multidrug-resistant TB is something I certainly do not want to think about or see.... with you on hoping that it is not the case in KY. 

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

I encountered and monitored TB when working with the migrant agricultural worker stream.  One of the nurses in a local community health system was infected and treated in SW Michigan during that time.    

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

 See Annual TB-Screening-Tool-for-Healthcare-Personnel form that I use for screening  to help nurses employed outside SNF/Hospital settings symptom evaluation.

 

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

The Kansas City TB outbreak shows the value of U.S. government health funding

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Without the CDC, NIH, and local health departments, the outbreak could have been much worse

 

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