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  • 2 days ago
The Northern Territory chief health officer has welcomed support from the Federal Government.

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00:01We had effectively eliminated diphtheria in Australia through our national immunisation
00:06programs. We haven't seen an outbreak like this since the last century. So it's not a
00:14matter of not seeing it, Patricia. We actually have regular surveillance across all jurisdictions.
00:19In fact, diphtheria is a notifiable condition, which means when we do see cases, we do raise
00:24the alarm and we do alert other jurisdictions. And in this case, from when those first cases
00:29were detected, we've very rapidly detected more cases and are moving very quickly. So
00:35as I said previously, the rise in numbers quite quickly now is a combination of better community
00:41education and clinician education. I myself as a clinician have gone through my professional
00:47career without seeing a case of diphtheria. So clinicians have been very quickly upskilled
00:52to recognise and treat and also to immunise.
00:55Thank you very much.
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