The Australian Government today announced a $7.2 million package in response to a diphtheria outbreak that has spread across Australian states including Queensland.
Two University of the Sunshine Coast experts in microbiology and infection prevention and control are available to comment.
They are alarmed at the outbreak of an ancient disease that can be prevented by vaccination.
UniSC Senior Lecturer in Nursing and expert in infection prevention and control, Dr Matt Mason:
”The spread of diphtheria from the Northern Territory into South Australia and Queensland is deeply alarming and represents a crisis that should not be happening in 2026.
“This is a vaccine-preventable disease. Every case represents a failure somewhere in our public health system.
“Over 98 percent of cases are affecting Indigenous Australians, with the vast majority occurring in remote and very remote communities, populations that already face significant barriers to healthcare access.
“We must be honest, this is not simply a matter of individual vaccine hesitancy. It reflects decades of under-investment in culturally appropriate, community-led health infrastructure.
“From an infection prevention and control perspective, contact tracing, isolation of confirmed cases, and urgent vaccination of high-risk contacts must be prioritised immediately.
“Healthcare workers across all affected jurisdictions must check their own booster status now.
“The diphtheria vaccine is safe and effective. The science is unambiguous. What is needed is political will, adequate resourcing, and community trust, built through partnership, not paternalism.”
UniSC Associate Professor in Microbiology Erin Price:
"Australia is currently in the midst of our worst diphtheria outbreak in decades.
"This outbreak is significant because it’s affecting a broad swathe of First Nations communities across multiple Australian states and territories, with very high case numbers – currently 30 times the average case rate documented in prior years – and one likely death to date.
"Although health outcomes in First Nations people have improved in recent years, they still face higher rates of acute and chronic diseases than non-indigenous Australians.
"For example, Australia has only just eradicated trachoma, a bacterial infectious disease that disproportionately affected Indigenous Australians – sadly, it took a century to achieve this outcome.
"Diphtheria, which is a notifiable disease in Australia, is caused by two pathogenic bacteria, Corynebacterium diphtheriae and C. ulcerans.
"These highly contagious microorganisms infect the skin and upper respiratory tract and can produce diphtheria toxin.
"Early symptoms include a mild fever, sore throat, and swollen neck glands, or skin sores with local swelling and tissue damage in cutaneous cases.
"Symptoms can worsen as the bacterium blocks the airways and the toxin can spread via blood, causing heart failure, kidney failure and paralysis."
Treatment and prevention
"Treatment comprises intravenous diphtheria antitoxin administration. Less severe cases can be treated with penicillin, macrolide, or tetracycline antibiotics. Even in treated patients, 10 percent of respiratory diphtheria sufferers will die due to the toxin’s irreversible damaging effects.
"This ancient disease can be prevented by vaccination. In Australia, it’s strongly recommended that all adults be boosted with the DTPa vaccine every 10 years, or every five years in Indigenous adults. Children should be vaccinated according to the national immunisation guidelines.
"The vaccine is free for all Australian children and teens up to the age of 20 who missed their childhood boosters, for pregnant women, and for Indigenous Australians.
"However, it currently incurs costs for everyone else, and this is a challenge that has not yet been addressed by the federal government. This vaccine also protects against another highly infectious pathogen, Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough.
"Diphtheria can spread person-to-person via the air and is highly contagious.
"Australian healthcare workers, along with anyone visiting healthcare clinics and hospitals, are strongly encouraged to be up-to-date with their DTPa vaccine. In addition, they should wear P2/N95 respirators in these facilities to protect themselves, their patients, and their loved ones."
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