Open Outbreak

Should I be worried about Diphtheria outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa?

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

Diphtheria outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa · high

If you are in the affected area high
WHO assessed the risk in affected countries in the African Region as high in its 21 November 2025 outbreak update. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region high
WHO said the risk in affected countries in the African Region was high on 21 November 2025. That is the latest directly retrieved official regional assessment here. According to WHO
If you are travelling there soon low
CDC issued a Level 1 travel notice for diphtheria in Sub-Saharan Africa on 25 August 2026 and said there are outbreaks in several countries in Africa. According to US CDC
If you are elsewhere in the world high
WHO's 21 November 2025 African Region outbreak update assessed the global risk as high. According to WHO

What is happening

Diphtheria is still being reported in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, but the clearest directly retrieved official regional update is WHO AFRO's 21 November 2025 notice, which reported 20,412 suspected cases and 1,252 deaths across eight African Member States from 1 January to 2 November 2025. That official notice included Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria, and said several countries had been experiencing outbreaks since 2023. No 2026 WHO Disease Outbreak News item was retrieved, so the 2026 picture in the material is mainly media reporting from Nigeria. Reports citing Plateau State health authorities said suspected cases rose from 303 with 27 deaths on 10 September 2026 to 469 with 31 deaths by 26 September 2026, and one report also cited 3 confirmed cases. Other 2026 reports said Zamfara ordered schools to resume, Plateau was facing vaccine shortages, and a political source alleged 50 deaths in Sokoto without a directly retrieved official bulletin; WHO's outbreak notices describe vaccination, rapid case management, antitoxin and antibiotics, and antibiotic prophylaxis for contacts as key control measures.

Who is affected and how it spreads

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection that spreads from person to person through close physical contact and respiratory droplets. It can infect the nose and throat and can become severe, and WHO says it is fatal in about 5% to 10% of cases, with higher mortality in young children and where diphtheria antitoxin is hard to obtain. WHO's African Region update says many recent African cases were in children and young adults, and over 50% of suspected cases in the 2023-2024 resurgence were in people who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. Vaccination is the main protection and greatly reduces illness and death.

What officials advise

What we are watching

Updates

Sources