Diphtheria

Diphtheria is an uncommon bacterial infection that can cause severe illness in unvaccinated individuals.

Diphtheria can cause skin sores (cutaneous diphtheria) and a sore throat (respiratory diphtheria).

How it spreads

Diphtheria is spread by:

direct skin contact with people who have infected sores
coughing and sneezing from people who have respiratory diphtheria.

Symptoms

The symptoms for diphtheria include:

sore throat or neck swelling
fever
difficulty swallowing or breathing
infected or non-healing skin sores.

Treatment

Diphtheria infection is treatable with antibiotics.

Severe cases may require hospital treatment.

Prevention

Vaccination is the most important health measure for prevention, protection and reducing transmission.

Vaccination is free under the National Immunisation Program for:

people under the age of 20
pregnant women from 20 weeks of pregnancy
refugee and humanitarian entrants.

Vaccination is also free in the NT for:

adults who have not had a diphtheria vaccine in the last 10 years
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 10 who have not had a diphtheria vaccine in the last 5 years.

Children are routinely vaccinated against diphtheria at:

6 weeks
4 months
6 months
18 months
4 years
12 years.

Adults are recommended to have a diphtheria vaccine booster every 10 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 10 should get a booster every 5 years.

If you are unsure when you last had the vaccine, check with your health care provider.

Parents should check their child’s vaccination status with their health care provider to make sure they are up to date with the NT immunisation schedule.

How to check your vaccination records

To check your vaccination records you can:

visit your health care provider
refer to your MyGov account.

For more information, go to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.

Where to get the vaccine

Territorians can get the vaccine at:

community care centres
remote health clinics
general practitioners (call ahead to check if your local GP has the vaccine in stock)
Aboriginal medical services
participating pharmacies (call ahead to check if your local pharmacy has the vaccine in stock).

Read about immunisations.

Vaccination clinics

Darwin

Clinic	How to attend	Date and time	Address
Casuarina Community Care Centre	Call 08 8922 7301 to book an appointment	Wednesday - 8:30am to 4pm	Casuarina Plaza 258 Trower Rd Casuarina
Palmerston Health	Call 08 8999 3344 to book an appointment	Wednesday - 8:30am to 4pm	Temple Terrace and Roystonea Avenue Palmerston

Alice Springs

Clinic	How to attend	Date and time	Address
Eurilpa House	Walk in	Monday, Wednesday and Friday - 9:30am to 4pm Tuesday and Thursday - 8:30am to 4pm	25 Todd Mall Alice Springs

Katherine

Clinic	How to attend	Date and time	Address
Katherine Community Health Centre	Walk in Call 08 8973 8570 to book an appointment	Thursdays in May and June - 8:30am to 3:30pm	Ground Floor Big Rivers Government Centre 5 First St Katherine

Nhulunbuy (Gove)

Clinic	How to attend	Date and time	Address
Nhulunbuy Community Health Centre	Walk in Call 08 8987 0413 to book an appointment	Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - 1:30pm to 3:45pm	Endeavour Square Chesterfield Circuit Nhulunbuy

Tennant Creek

Clinic	How to attend	Date and time	Address
Tennant Creek Hospital	Walk in	Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - 9am to 4pm	45 Schmidt St, House 5 (opposite the Memo) Tennant Creek

Vaccination for frontline workers

The following Northern Territory staff are eligible for a free diphtheria vaccine, if it’s been more than 5 years since their last diphtheria vaccine.