‘Very concerning’: Federal government pledges support package to combat ‘biggest ever’ outbreak of diphtheria

The federal government has pledged to put a support package in place to combat “the biggest outbreak of diphtheria ever seen”.

More than 220 cases of the illness have now been reported in Australia, with the Northern Territory also having reported the first diphtheria-related death in almost a decade.

Addressing the case numbers, which began in the Northern Territory before spreading into Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia, federal health minister Mark Butler said the situation was “very concerning”.

He said: “To put that in context, we have been recording case numbers nationally for about 35 years, and this, by a very big distance, is the biggest outbreak of diphtheria we have ever seen.

“It is about 30 times the average number of diphtheria cases that we’ve seen over the last five years or so.”

In response to the spread, the federal government is working on a support package geared at boosting waning vaccination rates.

“More vaccines, a surge workforce is part of the package that we’ll be finalising over the course of today, working closely with the NT government and with the Aboriginal controlled sector, because this is overwhelmingly an outbreak being experienced by Indigenous Australians in the NT,” Mr Butler added.

“I want to say this is not just very serious in terms of its numbers, but the vast majority of new cases we’re seeing are respiratory diphtheria, which is far more serious in terms of its potential — about 25 per cent of cases are being hospitalised.

“So this is obviously a deep concern for people who are exposed to this disease, but [it is] also starting to place pressure on hospital systems in the NT as well.”

Since the outbreak first began, there have been 133 notifications of the disease reported in the Northern Territory, according to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System.

There are 79 cases in WA, six in SA and five in Queensland.

Australia recorded its first diphtheria-related death in the Northern Territory – the first reported death in almost a decade.

Mr Butler told ABC Radio National that federal authorities were waiting for the Northern Territory government’s investigation into the death to be completed but said “there’s no question that this is serious”.

“It’s serious in the Northern Territory,” he said.

“It‘s spreading across other parts of the Top End. It’s crept below the South Australian border into the APY Lands.”

He said the Department of Health, Disability and Aged Care was working alongside the Northern Territory government and the Aboriginal-controlled sector.

He said “almost all of cases” in the Northern Territory were affecting Indigenous Australians.

Mr Butler said he met with medical services in Alice Springs who were “deeply, deeply concerned” with the outbreak and working to lift vaccination rates in the Aboriginal community.

“We’ve lifted our efforts around vaccine activity there,” he said.

“You’ve got to get a booster probably every five years if you’re an adult.”

What is diphtheria

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection that affects the mucous membranes of the nose and throat.

Symptoms of the disease show between two and five days after becoming infected and can include a thick, grey membrane covering the throat and tonsils.

Some with the infection may also report a sore throat, swollen glands in the neck, fever, chills or difficulty breathing.

There is a second type of diphtheria that can affect the skin, creating red and painful swelling.

There is medication available to treat the disease.

However, those who haven’t stayed up to date with vaccinations and boosters may experience complications such as breathing problems, heart and nerve damage, and death.

‘Wherever you are, there’s a risk’

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress chief medical officer John Boffa said there were about 15 to 20 new cases reported every week, though these figures were on the decline.

“As we test more people, we were finding more and maybe, hopefully, we’re going to get to a point where we’ve been testing a very large number of people and numbers will start to drop as we see more people vaccinated,” he told ABC Radio Alice Springs on Tuesday.

He said while the vaccine acceptance rate in Central Australia was “very good”, he said members of the community were yet to get their booster shots.

For those at a higher risk of infection, the recommended interval between booster shots has been revised from 10 to five years.

“Wherever you are, there’s a risk, and you’ve got to get boosted,” Dr Boffa said.

“Anyone with a sore throat at this stage needs to go to their clinic, and they need to have their throat swabbed

“Anyone who’s got a skin sore, again you need to go to your clinic with a skin sore and get it swabbed.”