Caroline Kunshek reporter
In the past several weeks, there has been a noticeable surge in tuberculosis (TB) cases in the Kansas City area. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the outbreak has consisted of 79 confirmed latent cases and 67 confirmed active cases of tuberculosis. For reference, the CDC only reported 46 active cases in 2023 and 52 in 2022.
However, are these numbers truly a cause for panic among the students and community of Pittsburg? Wellness and Student Advocacy Services Coordinator, Taylor Panczer, says no.
“I don’t think college students need to be concerned right now about TB,” Panczer said.
News reports began circulating of a threateningly massive increase in tuberculosis cases in January.
“Well, it wasn’t,” Panczer stated. “It wasn’t a huge spike in that it’s been happening over several months. Not just the last few weeks like most folks inferred from the news stories that broke.”
One of the main reasons that Panczer is not concerned about this is the inability for TB to spread with ease.
“What we do see is TB spread with air droplets being left in the air for a few moments,” Panczer said. “So, coughing, sneezing, or spitting when (those who are contagious) talk. But you have to be very, very close to one another. Someone has to actively have TB for them to be considered contagious, and a lot of times if someone is being tested, or comes up positive, they’re being treated very quickly with antibiotics.”
According to Panczer, with the diligence of the Bryant Student Health Center, tuberculosis is unlikely to spread to our campus.
“As a university, we do take precautions,” Panczer said. “We have international students that travel here. They may be coming from countries that have a high incidence of TB, so we do TB screenings on every student that is coming from a high-risk area. And even though, obviously, it’s at a higher risk for folks traveling internationally, we also do domestic screenings for students living in the U.S. We always have students new to campus fill out a risk assessment screening, and if they had traveled or meet any of the other risks, they’d get screened for TB as well, so, we take precautions,” Panczer said. “That’s why we say we’re really not worried on campus about an outbreak of TB happening. I believe that it’s contained, and folks should not have to worry.”
This does not mean that we can stop washing our hands, however. Other viruses such as influenza A and RSV are still rampant.
“What we should be more concerned about is the high rate of respiratory illnesses that are going around right now,” Panczer noted. “On campus, we are seeing a high influx of flu A and RSV, and some colds going around. So, honestly, yeah, I get that the news was sensationalizing this TB outbreak, but we really should be more concerned about getting the flu, because that is what we’re seeing on campus right now.”
For those who are still nervous about whether their sniffle is the flu or tuberculosis, rest assured that symptoms will likely present much differently from each other.
“With Flu A, you’re gonna get that body ache, that fever, coughing, sneezing, really, really fatigued and tired,” Panczer said. “TB, if you were to actually have TB, it’s gonna be this really intense cough that will not go away and sometimes you can actually end up coughing up blood. (You’ll also get) a persistent headache a lot of times, you see, because of so much coughing. But of course, what we always encourage students to do is if you’re not feeling well, please come to the Bryant Student Health Center.”
The health center operates Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.