The bacteria didn’t just return. It arrived.
Australia is facing its worst diphtheria surge in living memory. The numbers are shocking for a place where the disease had essentially vanished.
230 confirmed cases so far this year. One adult death.
The rate of new infections is climbing fast.
Who is getting sick
Almost every single case is happening in remote Indigenous communities. Most are in the Northern Territory. The rest are scattered through Western Australia, with small clusters in Queensland and South Australia.
Previously, the annual count was basically zero.
Paul Burgess, the chief health officer for the Northern Territory, told ABC Radio the outbreak likely started with one case in Queensland back in 2022. That person had picked it up overseas.
Then the bacteria moved. It crossed borders. It found pockets of vulnerability. Burgess says it’s a perfect storm of factors: gaps in vaccination coverage, high population mobility between towns, and overcrowded housing.
The booster gap
Here is the irony. Vaccination rates for five-year-olds in the NT are high. Almost 92% get their shots.
But then things fall apart.
No more than 67% of thirteen-year-olds receive the national school-based booster. The immunity wanes. Without a booster, you’re exposed again.
“The vaccine does wane,” says Raina MacIntyre from the University of New South Wales, “and boosters are needed.”
That explains the demographic. Many of the people getting infected are adolescents and young adults. Their protection faded.
Why are boosters so low? It’s complicated. Misinformation has grown since the pandemic. People push back against mandatory shots. Plus, remote areas simply don’t have enough nurses or doctors to chase down every patient.
Why this bacteria kills
Diphtheria isn’t just a cough. Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacteria infect the throat or skin.
It produces a toxin. A thick grey membrane forms in the throat. Breathing becomes obstructed. It’s a horror story in medical texts. If that toxin hits the bloodstream, you face paralysis. Or heart failure.
You catch it from breathing in droplets. Or touching open sores.
Treatments exist. Antibiotics work. Antitoxins neutralize the poison.
But people still die.
In the late 19200s, this was the killer of choice. Over 4,000 Australians died from it in the 30s alone. The vaccine changed that history. Until now.
The money moves
The Australian government announced A$7.2 million in funding yesterday. That’s about £3.8 million.
They are deploying extra medical staff to these remote regions. The goal is clear. Get the boosters out. Treat the infected.
Surprisingly, Burgess says demand is high right now.
“Quite pleasingly, we’re seeing a strong community demand for vaccination in this context.”
Fear drives compliance sometimes. It works. For now.
Global memory
This isn’t unique to Australia, really. We just forgot.
When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, vaccination programs collapsed. What followed was the largest outbreak since the vaccine’s introduction.
Over 140,00 cases. 5,000 dead.
It was a lesson in fragility. MacIntyre puts it plainly: large epidemics happen when programs break.
The programs here are breaking again.
