Diphtheria* / epidemiology Archives

doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.33.2500539.

Imme Friederike Roewer de Porto^{1

2

3

4

, Alexandra Dangel

1

5

, Lena Schneider

1

2

3

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, Aleksandra A Zasada

6

, Jonas Haller

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, Inas Abdelgawad

8

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, Claudia Siffczyk

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, Iwona Paradowska-Stankiewicz

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, Ole Wichmann

4

, Franziska Badenschier

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, Anja Berger

1

11

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, Cornelius Rau

1

4

, Andreas Sing

1

11

12

13}

Affiliations

Table of Contents

Affiliations
Authors
Affiliations

Abstract
MeSH terms

¹ These authors contributed equally to this work and share first/last authorship.
² ECDC Fellowship Programme, Field Epidemiology path (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ NGS-Core Unit, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany.
⁶ Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
⁷ Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
⁸ Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Al Kasr Al Aini, Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt.
⁹ Local Public Health Authority Havelland, Brandenburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance, National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
¹¹ WHO Collaborating Centre for Diphtheria, Oberschleißheim, Germany.
¹² EU Public Health Reference Laboratory for Diphtheria and Pertussis (EURL-PH-EUDIPE), Oberschleißheim, Germany.
¹³ National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany.

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Imme Friederike Roewer de Porto et al.

Euro Surveill.

2025 Aug.

doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.33.2500539.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ These authors contributed equally to this work and share first/last authorship.
² ECDC Fellowship Programme, Field Epidemiology path (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ NGS-Core Unit, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany.
⁶ Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
⁷ Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
⁸ Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Al Kasr Al Aini, Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt.
⁹ Local Public Health Authority Havelland, Brandenburg, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance, National Institute of Public Health NIH – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
¹¹ WHO Collaborating Centre for Diphtheria, Oberschleißheim, Germany.
¹² EU Public Health Reference Laboratory for Diphtheria and Pertussis (EURL-PH-EUDIPE), Oberschleißheim, Germany.
¹³ National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany.

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Abstract

Within a Corynebacterium diphtheriae ST-574 outbreak comprising mostly migration-associated cases since 2022, Germany detected two sub-clusters in 2025. Among sub-cluster cases with travel information (24/26), 22 were acquired autochthonously. One of two imported cases came from a Polish voivodeship having an additional case. Sub-cluster 1 included 16 cutaneous cases, sub-cluster 2 included six cutaneous and five respiratory cases. One unvaccinated child and two older adults died. Of 27 cases, 12 experienced homelessness. Strengthened immunisation, improved wound care and international surveillance are needed.

Keywords:

Corynebacterium diphtheriae; Diphtheria; Disease outbreaks; Migration and health; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Next Generation Sequencing; Outbreak investigation; ST-574; Vaccine-preventable disease.

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Diphtheria* / epidemiology

Two diphtheria sub-clusters with autochthonous cases in Germany and Poland within a Corynebacterium diphtheriae ST-574 outbreak, 2022 to July 2025

Abstract

MeSH terms