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Should I be worried about Diphtheria outbreak in South Africa?

Updated · Graded from official assessments; nothing here is medical advice.

Diphtheria outbreak in South Africa · high

If you are in the affected area high
WHO assessed the public health risk in affected countries in the African Region as high on 21 November 2025. South Africa was one of the affected Member States named in that notice. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region high
WHO said the public health risk in affected countries was high on 21 November 2025, and South Africa was included among the affected countries in its African Region update. According to WHO
If you are travelling there soon high
WHO assessed the public health risk in the African Region as high on 21 November 2025. That is the latest retrievable official risk assessment relevant to travel into the affected region. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the world low
WHO assessed the global risk as low on 21 November 2025, even while rating the African regional risk as high. According to WHO

What is happening

South Africa is being monitored as part of the wider diphtheria resurgence in the WHO African Region, with reported activity especially in Western Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng. The available South African outbreak information describes ongoing transmission since late 2025, including confirmed respiratory cases and asymptomatic toxigenic carriers, but a current South African public bulletin was not retrievable. The latest retrievable official regional notice is WHO’s update of 21 November 2025, which said that since the beginning of 2025 and as of 2 November 2025, eight countries in the Region, including South Africa, had reported 20,412 suspected diphtheria cases and 1,252 deaths. No reliable recent media figures were retrieved for South Africa, so there is no verified official-media numerical gap to report. WHO says control in affected countries requires laboratory confirmation, enhanced surveillance and case finding, clinical management with diphtheria antitoxin and appropriate antibiotics, infection prevention and control, sustained vaccination, and risk communication.

Who is affected and how it spreads

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection caused by toxin-producing Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It usually spreads from person to person through close physical contact and respiratory droplets, and WHO also notes direct contact transmission. Outbreaks often affect children most, but WHO’s recent African Region notice says many cases are also seen in young adults. Vaccination prevents much of the illness, but severe disease can block breathing, and WHO says diphtheria is fatal in about 5% to 10% of cases, with higher death rates where diphtheria antitoxin is hard to obtain.

What we are watching

Updates

Sources