Our state continues to see new laws introduced each year that diminish funding and the authority of health departments — just last month, two new bills were proposed that would effectively eliminate vaccine requirements across Kansas.

Slashing tuberculosis aid could endanger millions of lives abroad, health authorities say, with potential consequences for the U.S., where TB cases have also been rising.

Kansas faces one of the largest TB outbreaks in US history. TB, an enduring pandemic, thrives in poverty-stricken areas and wealthy countries alike. Healthcare gaps, migration, and vaccine limitations contribute to rising TB cases in the UK.

An outbreak of tuberculosis, or TB – a lung disease that is often accompanied by a hacking cough – began in January 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas, and two nearby counties and continues as of early March 2025.

But the relative size of the outbreak is irrelevant. Kansas numbers continue to grow, and Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease professor at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, confirmed with Today.com: “It’s a substantial outbreak of tuberculosis.”

Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases. Two fired CDC workers had been deployed to Kansas City to help work on a tuberculosis outbreak.

With increasing mass movement, including due to climate change and war, the maxim "TB anywhere is TB everywhere" is more resonant today than ever

The WHO has issued warnings and cutting and freezing aid can risk a global surge in cases of tuberculosis – a life-threatening bacterial infection threatening millions of lives. According to the agency,