Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is America's largest recorded since the 1950s

Not being from the US, I find it odd that the article didn't mention anything about vaccination. Until 2005, pretty much everyone in the UK received the BCG vaccine. After that the TB rate fell too low to merit routine vaccination, but even today it's still given routinely in a few areas where the rate merits it, or if there's elevated risk of exposure via family from abroad, etc. Has vaccination in general become such a divisive topic in the US that articles about diseases for which we used to routinely vaccinate don't even mention that a vaccine is available and greatly reduces the risk of the most severe forms of TB, such as TB meningitis?

John Green, author of "The Fault in Our Stars", "Turtles All the Way Down", "The Anthropocene Reviewed", and other fine books is releasing a book called "Everything is Tuberculosis." If you are interested in the topic or just like to read well-written prose, I recommend joining me in pre-ordering it.

Largest in recorded history is a bit of hyperbole. In the 1800s something like 80% of all Americans had the TB bacillus and of those that came down with TB a huge percentage died.

How can this possibly be America's largest TB outbreak in history? TB was killing thousands of people per year in America in the 1800s.

From the article:<p><pre><code> An tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the US....the CDC started monitoring TB in the US in the 1950s. &quot;This is mainly due to the rapid number of cases in the short amount of time. There are a few other states that currently have large outbreaks that are also ongoing.&quot; People with an active infection feel sick and can spread it to others, while people with a latent infection don&#x27;t feel sick and can&#x27;t spread it. It is treatable with antibiotics. State public health officials say there is &quot;very low risk to the general public.&quot;</code></pre>

I had a TB scare last year. Coworker was exposed to a confirmed case. Got tested, and we all turned up negative. I then asked if I could get a TB vaccine, but was told no, because it makes the TB visual assessment test useless. So, to aid future potential diagnoses, I need to be able to be infected by the genuine article.

Is the CDC still a thing or did an executive order defund them too?

To me, TB is ultimate test of character. Stopping TB means you care for your common man:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;GFLb5h2O2Ww?t=75" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;GFLb5h2O2Ww?t=75</a>

If RFK jr becomes HHS lead and is able to push anti-vax policies this could only get worse.

Is there public reporting for actions taken by the current American Presidential Presidency?<p>It would be useful and highly informative to be able to visit a single page to see daily&#x2F;quarterly&#x2F;bi-annual&#x2F;annual diffs of which efforts habe received signoff.

My friend&#x27;s husband is a physician that works along the Mexican border and volunteers at migrant shelters. He said the amount of TB that comes through the border is shocking.

Weird. Where did it come from? It’s basically unheard of in the US.

This is the type of thing that&#x27;d normally show up on CDC&#x27;s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report which has been published weekly since 1960 (my understanding is this is without fail).<p>But unfortunately the current administration has decided an ideological purification is more important than keeping the American public apprised of threats to their health.<p>So it wasn&#x27;t published last week, and probably won&#x27;t be this week either. &quot;Politics don&#x27;t matter&quot; though ;) Bummer!<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cdc.gov&#x2F;mmwr&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cdc.gov&#x2F;mmwr&#x2F;</a>

I have a lot of disagreements with HL Mencken, but I’ve found myself thinking about this quote of his a lot lately…for whatever reason.<p>“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

Shhhh.... don&#x27;t tell the CDC.

Fun historical incident, but the &quot;Spanish Flu&quot; was traced back to Fort Riley Kansas. I think some people highlight a specific pig farm even. Now, the CDC do not list any infections of H1N5 in Kansas yet, but... Worth looking out for in anticipation maybe?<p>Is there any reason why Kansas would be different than other states in particular?