Health officials have said the risk to the public is low from the current tuberculosis, or TB, outbreak among dozens of people in eastern Kansas. However, most people should worry about respiratory viruses that tend to peak at this time of year,

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.

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.

A CDC spokesperson identified two outbreaks in the last decade linked to more tuberculosis cases than the ongoing outbreak centered in Wyandotte County.

State and local public health officials in Kansas are responding to a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in the Kansas City area, where approximately 70 patients are being treated for active disease, according to a press release from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s (KDHE’s) Division of Public Health.

Two deaths and 67 active cases mark Kansas City's worst tuberculosis outbreak in years. Here's what health officials want you to know about this growing crisis.

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.

Health officials are monitoring a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas City, with 67 active cases and at least two deaths, though experts say the risk of spread to surrounding areas, including

Healthline also offers the following tips for preventing TB infections: Wash your hands often and cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly to keep your immune system strong.

The endTB trial is one of four recent randomized controlled trials testing new, shorter, and less toxic treatment regimens for drug-resistant TB. The trials are using two fairly new drugs— bedaquiline and delamanid. The medicines were first brought to the market in 2012 and 2013 and were the first new medications for TB in almost 50 years.

“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.