Deadly disease outbreak linked to waning vaccinations
One of Australia’s worst diphtheria outbreaks is thought to be down to falling vaccination rates as the rare respiratory disease continues to spread.
Hundreds of cases have been reported spanning three states and one territory, amid fears that the highly contagious infection has claimed lives in a rural community.
Nearly all of the cases involve Indigenous Australians, prompting health authorities to work with Aboriginal agencies to contain the outbreak, including vaccine supply.
Diphtheria was a feared childhood disease and a common cause of death in children until the 1940s, when vaccines became available.
Vaccination expert Milena Dalton said the outbreak showed how quickly vaccine-preventable diseases can reemerge when there are immunity gaps.
“Although diphtheria is rare in Australia, this outbreak shows it has not gone away,” he told AAP.
“Vaccination has made this less common, but protection needs to be maintained.”
The National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System reports 133 notifications of the disease in the Northern Territory since the outbreak began in March.
It has since spread to Western Australia; 79 cases have been reported here, as well as six cases in South Australia and up to five in Queensland.
NT health officials are also awaiting autopsy results on a possible diphtheria-related death in a remote community.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler described it as Australia’s largest diphtheria outbreak in decades.
“There’s no question this is serious,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
Dr Dalton said the response to the outbreak must be in partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled health services and local leaders.
An expert from Melbourne’s Burnet Institute said the pandemic required governments to support rapid vaccination, booster dosing, testing, treatment and contact tracing.
“We have the tools to stop further spread, so we really need to make sure those tools get to the communities that need them most,” he said.
NT Health said it was working with community organizations to deliver a territory-wide vaccination programme, focusing on vulnerable people and at-risk areas.
“Vaccination remains the most important measure to prevent, protect and reduce transmission,” the statement said.
Vaccination is free for children aged six weeks to two months, four months, six months, 18 months, four years and 12 years of age under the national programme.
Women who are 20 weeks pregnant are also eligible, and adults are encouraged to get vaccinated every 10 years.
Diphtheria can easily spread from person to person through inhalation of respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Respiratory diphtheria symptoms include sore throat, mild fever, loss of appetite, and in severe cases, difficulty breathing, which in some cases can lead to death if left untreated.
The less harmful form of the disease is cutaneous diphtheria, which is spread by direct skin contact on lesions of infected individuals and presents with symptoms such as sores or ulcers and slow-healing sores.
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