Diphtheria - African Region (AFRO)

Diphtheria - African Region (AFRO) was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Friday, 21 November 2025 at 18:29 UTC. The event is classified as a epidemic incident with a severity rating of Severe, and was detected through the World Health Organization (WHO).

From 1 January to 2 November 2025, a total of 20 412 suspected diphtheria cases, including 1 252 deaths (an average case fatality ratio [CFR] - 6 %) have been reported across eight Member States in the WHO African Region (Algeria, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and South Africa). Several of these countries have been experiencing ongoing outbreaks since 2023. Children and young adults represent the majority of the cases, with females accounting for a slightly greater proportion. Case confirmation and management remain constrained. Laboratory confirmation remains low due to shortages of diagnostic supplies and limited testing capacity. At the same time, the global shortage of diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), and uneven clinical capacity to provide this essential treatment, pose significant challenges for effective case management. Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable bacteri

Where this happened

The incident is located in South Africa (Africa), whose capital is Pretoria. Historically, South Africa is most affected by droughts, floods, wildfires and mining accidents. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the South Africa incident tracker.

Approximate coordinates of the reported event are -30.600°, 22.900°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.

Understanding epidemic events

Disease outbreaks including cholera, dengue, measles, Ebola and influenza. Outbreak trajectories depend on transmission route, population immunity and the speed of detection. Early case-finding, clean water and vaccination coverage change outcomes far more than late-stage restrictions.

How severity is rated

Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Severe. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.

Safety guidance for epidemic situations

• Follow official case definitions and testing guidance rather than social-media claims.
• Prioritise clean water, hand hygiene and safe food handling during any outbreak.
• Keep routine vaccinations up to date; they carry most of the protective effect.
• Seek care early if you belong to a high-risk group.
• Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.

Data and verification

This record was generated automatically from the World Health Organization (WHO) and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.

Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every epidemics and outbreaks we track on the Epidemic tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.

Timeline and sources

1. 9 Aug 2026, 19:57 UTC · received · event time 21 Nov 2025, 18:29 UTC
   First report Humanitarian agency report

   First recorded from World Health Organization.

   World Health Organization ↗

Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.

Conditions at the time