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| - In 2025, several African countries faced a resurgence of diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection.
In its latest update, with data until 2 November 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported more than 20,000 cases and 1,252 deaths across eight countries, namely Algeria, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and South Africa.
The WHO warned that although outbreaks had been ongoing in most of these countries, the renewed surge was a “serious public concern”.
In October 2025, Algeria reported an outbreak in Skikda province in the northeast, with 13 suspected cases and two deaths. The province lies about 480 kilometres east of the capital, Algiers. In 2024, an outbreak in the south led to over 900 suspected cases and 119 deaths.
Diphtheria resurgence is often linked to low immunisation, yet Algeria's national vaccine coverage is high. But the WHO said that geopolitical instability in neighbouring states had driven large numbers of displaced people into southern Algeria, communities where vaccination rates are much lower.
It is in this context that, after decades in which diphtheria had nearly disappeared in Algeria, its return fuelled false claims about the disease.
The Facebook page Doctors, which has 1.4 million followers, drew attention to one such claim, saying it began as a comment on the page, though it did not link to the original post. (Note: We were unable to locate the comment; it may have been deleted.)
The post reads:
"#تعليقات علماء الصفحة
مكانش منها الديفتيريا هذه مجرد تهويل لدفع الناس لمخاطر التلقيحات تنفيذا لاجندة عالمية و اصلا الطب في الجزائر صفر يجب ان تتعلمو من الطبقة الحاكمة في العالم وراء الظل التي تعرف خفايا الطب الحقيقي انتم قلتم ان الدفتيريا تعطي مواد بيضاء على الوزتين انا نمرض كل عام 7 مرات و تظهر تلك الطبقات البيضاء و نبرا عادي دون تلقيح هي مجرد فيروسات تتكون داخل الجسم و تتمكن المناعة منها اما من توفو فكان ذلك عمدا لتخويف الناس و دفعهم للتلقيح"
Translated from Arabic, it reads: “There’s no such thing as diphtheria. This is just fearmongering to push people into the dangers of vaccination as part of a global agenda. Medicine in Algeria is worthless. You should learn from the ruling elite behind the scenes who know the truth about real medicine. It continues: “You said diphtheria causes white patches on the tonsils – I get sick seven times a year, and those white patches appear, but I recover naturally without vaccines. They are just viruses that form inside the body, and the immune system defeats them. Those who died were deliberately killed to scare people and push them to get vaccinated.”
The post contains unverifiable personal anecdotes but gives no indication of the poster’s vaccination status. It also frames the jab as a treatment, rather than a preventive measure.
Under the post, the Doctors page attempted a rebuttal but noted that it had used the chatbot ChatGPT to formulate this answer due to time constraints. The page has also recently criticised a rise in anti-vaccination claims in Algeria, including in a 30 November post. This comes as the country rolls out national flu and polio vaccination campaigns.
Africa Check took up the fact-checking task and examined two key claims from the highlighted post.
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Multiple organisations, including international health agencies, clearly describe what diphtheria is. There are also several online resources about the disease.
According to the WHO, diphtheria is a highly contagious bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium diphtheria, for which humans are the only natural host. It can be fatal in up to 10% of cases. The disease affects all age groups but is most common in young children. It is vaccine-preventable, requiring several doses and boosters to build and maintain immunity.
Diphtheria is endemic in countries with low immunisation levels, meaning it persists in the population but is confined to a particular region, making its behaviour easier to predict.
It spreads through respiratory secretions, or by breathing in droplets from an infected person when they cough or sneeze. There is a higher transmission risk in crowded or poorly ventilated places. Communities with high vaccination coverage have a lower risk.
Dr Hadil Bahri, a general practitioner in Algeria, said the bacteria produce a potent toxin that damages or kills healthy tissue in the throat, heart and nerves.
The dead tissue forms a distinctive grey membrane over the throat and tonsils, making breathing and swallowing difficult. Most deaths are caused by airway obstruction.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that even with treatment, around one in 10 people with respiratory diphtheria die. Without treatment, up to half do.
The claim that diphtheria – or that Algeria’s recent outbreak – is a fabrication is incorrect. Diphtheria is a well-documented, medically recognised disease with a proven vaccine, and outbreaks continue to be monitored and reported globally.
Africa Check has tracked outbreaks in Nigeria, while health organisation Bhekisisa has reported on its return in South Africa.
The WHO makes clear that diphtheria is caused by a bacterium, not a virus, as claimed in the Facebook post.
We contacted Dr André Arsène Bita Fouda at the WHO Africa regional office in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo, who shared a research paper on diphtheria outbreaks in Africa in 2023-24.
The study also debunks the claim that natural immunity can reliably fight off the infection. “For unvaccinated individuals, without proper treatment, diphtheria can be fatal in around 30% of cases, with young children at higher risk of dying,” it said.
“The infection does not originate within the body, and the immune system alone often cannot defeat it because the toxin spreads rapidly and continues to cause harm even after the bacteria are killed,” Bahri said.
“Effective treatment requires the use of a diphtheria antitoxin to neutralise the toxin and antibiotics such as penicillin or erythromycin to eliminate the bacteria. Vaccination, DTaP or Tdap, helps prevent the disease in the first place,” she added.
The study noted that antitoxin treatment, better clinical care and widespread vaccination had sharply reduced diphtheria deaths and illness.
Diphtheria is a bacterial, not viral, disease, and relying on natural immunity is also unsafe.
Rachid Tehami, an award-winning fact-checker from Chayyek in Algeria, is an Africa Check fellow. This report was produced during the 2025 Africa Check fellowship in Nairobi, Kenya, which was generously supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German foundation promoting democracy and media development. The fellowship works to strengthen information integrity and resilience across Africa.
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