A severe outbreak of the highly contagious disease diphtheria has spread across Indigenous communities in remote parts of Australia, in what health experts are describing as the country’s largest recorded outbreak of the disease. In response, authorities have launched a nationwide vaccination campaign, although criticism is mounting over what many see as a delayed and inadequate government response.
The alarming outbreak first became public in late March. Dr. John Boffa, a leading public health official in the Northern Territory and chief medical officer of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, said health professionals only became fully aware of the scale of the outbreak several months after it had begun.
By that time, the Northern Territory Health Department had identified 37 cases of cutaneous, or skin, diphtheria, with the disease reportedly spreading since May last year. In addition, four serious cases of respiratory diphtheria — the more dangerous and potentially fatal form of the disease — were detected in Darwin and Alice Springs.
Medical experts said the appearance of unrelated cases across multiple states indicated that the outbreak had already spread widely and required urgent large-scale intervention. However, frontline health workers found that awareness among Indigenous communities regarding the disease, vaccination procedures, and booster doses was extremely limited. Many communities also lacked access to essential public health information.
The situation was further complicated by vaccine shortages during the early stages of the outbreak. By May, between 15 and 20 new cases were being identified each week. Yet testing delays became a major challenge, as the Royal Darwin Hospital’s single laboratory often took up to a week to process results.
Although vaccine supplies have since improved, efforts to deliver vaccinations in remote regions have been hindered by shortages of healthcare workers and emergency response teams needed for door-to-door immunization campaigns.
The total number of confirmed cases across Australia has now surpassed 230, with infections reported in Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland. Nearly one-third of patients have required hospitalization due to severe respiratory complications.
Most of those infected are Indigenous adults, with experts pointing to overcrowded housing conditions and poor living standards in remote Indigenous settlements as major contributing factors. A significant number of children and teenagers have also been affected.
Health service leaders in remote regions such as Halls Creek said diphtheria had become so rare in recent decades that many people no longer recognized its symptoms. Communication barriers have also complicated prevention efforts, as many Indigenous families primarily speak traditional languages at home.
Officials further noted that post-pandemic shortages in funding and healthcare staffing have made it difficult to carry out essential tasks such as contact tracing and identifying sources of infection.
Public concern intensified in mid-May after a person in the Northern Territory died from diphtheria — the first such death in the region in a decade. While authorities are still awaiting autopsy results to confirm the exact cause of death, medical officials criticized what they described as an initially weak response to the outbreak.
According to several healthcare professionals, authorities underestimated the seriousness of the situation because the outbreak initially appeared mainly in the form of skin infections, allowing it to escalate into a broader public health crisis.
In response to the growing emergency, the federal government has announced an emergency funding package worth 7.2 million Australian dollars. The funds will be used to recruit additional healthcare workers, secure vaccine supplies, and provide antibiotics.
Doctors hope that improved vaccination coverage, increased booster uptake among adults, and more intensive public outreach campaigns will help contain the outbreak in the coming months.
Source: The Guardian