Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Kansas Hit With One Of The Largest Tuberculosis Outbreaks In History—And Trump Is Making It Worse

Donald Trump
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dozens of cases of active tuberculosis have already been reported, but the CDC has been unable to alert the public due to Trump's "pause" on health agency communications.

Kansas is currently facing one of the largest tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks in history but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been unable to alert the public to the extent that it could, due to former President Donald Trump's "pause" on health agency communications.

TB is a bacterial infection primarily affecting the lungs, with active cases causing symptoms such as chest pain, coughing up blood, weight loss, and chills. When left untreated, it can be fatal. TB is contagious only when symptoms are present, but people with latent TB, who do not exhibit symptoms, cannot spread the infection.


While TB was briefly overtaken by the coronavirus as the deadliest infectious disease during the pandemic, it reclaimed its top spot in 2023, claiming 1.25 million lives, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As of the most recent data available, 67 people in Kansas are being treated for active TB cases linked to a local outbreak—60 cases in Wyandotte County and seven in Johnson County. Additionally, 79 people in the two counties are carrying dormant, or latent, TB.

Though those with latent TB do not show symptoms and cannot transmit the disease, the WHO estimates that up to 10% of those infected may eventually develop active TB, highlighting the ongoing public health concern surrounding the disease.

The TB outbreak in Kansas was first reported in January 2024, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). Since then, two deaths have been linked to the outbreak, both of which occurred in the previous year.

However, the CDC and other health agencies have been hampered due to Trump's orders to freeze certain operations and communications at government health agencies, along with the beginning of a U.S. pullout from the WHO that has alarmed clinicians and researchers nationwide.

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) halted most outgoing communications, travel, and grant reviews across its agencies, a move that even prevented National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers from purchasing supplies necessary for clinical trials.

In addition, a broader purge of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs is anticipated, including those focused on reducing health disparities and improving diversity in clinical trials. That deals a significant blow to researchers looking to understand the intricacies of disease outbreaks such as the ongoing one in Kansas.

This is especially alarming given Trump's atrocious record of handling pandemics.

Four years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns the month prior that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Well over 1.2 million Americans have died since the pandemic began. Many of these people could have been saved had Trump's administration taken the situation seriously from the start.

Many prominent Trump surrogates have downplayed the fact that Trump raged against shutdowns, attacked healthcare professionals, frequently undermined the efforts of the White House COVID-19 Task Force, and openly pushed conspiracy theories about the virus and the vaccination campaign that were embraced by his followers, hindering the country's ability to rebound from the pandemic's economic shock.

According to a 2021 Lancet commission tasked with assessing Trump's health policy record, the U.S. could have prevented 40% of Covid-19 deaths if its death rates had aligned with those in other high-income G7 countries. The commission stated that Trump "brought misfortune to the USA and the planet" during his four-year tenure.

The commission emphasized the increasing evidence that Trump's rollbacks of regulations led to a rise in death and disease. From 2016 to 2019, annual deaths related to environmental and occupational factors surged by more than 22,000, reversing a trend of steady decline.

The negative effects of the rescinded regulations were especially pronounced in states that had been strong supporters of Trump in 2016, which were also the most impacted by cuts to health insurance coverage, as the report noted.

Many have sounded the alarm as the TB outbreak continues.


The news of the TB outbreak comes as a new bird flu strain in California has raised fears that the disease could pose a threat to humans.

U.S. officials recently reported the discovery of this virulent strain at a duck farm to the World Organization for Animal Health. This comes as the U.S. is already grappling with a growing outbreak of another bird flu strain, H5N1, which is affecting poultry farms nationwide and has spread to dairy cows for the first time.

While human cases of H5N1 have been rare and mainly limited to dairy workers exposed to infected animals, experts are concerned that the combination of H5N1, seasonal flu, and other strains could lead to new versions of the virus capable of spreading more easily among humans.

This potential for greater human transmission is driven by a process called "reassortment," where genetic material from different virus strains exchanges when hosts are co-infected.

More from News/political-news

Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Adding Another Mind-Boggling Rule For 'Real Men'

Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is apparently an authority of what it means to be a manly man, gave jazz hands to make a point about how "real men" should or shouldn't wave.

The target of his ridicule was Tim Walz, the enthusiastic Democratic Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate who often greets the public by raising both hands in the air to wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of crowd at town hall and Rep. Mike Flood
@MorePerfectUS/X; KETV NewsWatch 7

GOP Rep. Goes Viral For His Response To Crowd Chanting 'Tax The Rich' At Town Hall

Nebraska Republican Representative Mike Flood was criticized following his incredulous response to a crowd that chanted "Tax the rich!" during a town hall meeting.

The Columbus High School auditorium hosted the town hall on Tuesday evening, drawing "nearly 380" attendees, according to local network KETV Omaha. The event was lively, with Flood facing both sharp criticism over Trump administration policies and some appreciation for showing up in person.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less