Table 1. Characteristics of diphtheria ST-574 confirmed cases in Germany (n = 125) and Poland (n = 1) by sub-cluster, 01 January 2022–03 July 2025.
| Characteristics | Imported non-sub-cluster (99 cases) |
Sub-cluster 1 (16 cases)a |
Sub-cluster 2 (11 cases)a |
Total (126 cases) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numberb | %a | Numberb,c | Numberb,c | Numberb | %b | |
| Diagnostics | ||||||
| Only tox PCR positive | 2 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 9 |
| PCR and Elek test positive | 97 | 98 | 7 | 11 | 115 | 91 |
| Age | ||||||
| Median age in years (Q1–Q3) | 18 (16–21) | 45 (39–55) | 58 (48–64) | 19 (17–27) | ||
| Administrative sex and gender | ||||||
| Female | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 |
| Male | 93 | 94 | 12 | 8 | 113 | 90 |
| Gender-diverse | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| Manifestation | ||||||
| Respiratory diphtheria | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Cutaneous diphtheria | 88 | 89 | 16 | 6 | 110 | 87 |
| Unknown | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| Severity | ||||||
| Hospitalised | 25 | 25 | 8 | 11 | 44 | 35 |
| Median hospital stay in days (Q1–Q3) | 5 (0–8) | 1 (0–6.5) | 1 (0–12) | 2 (0–8) | ||
| Death due to disease | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Vaccination status | ||||||
| Vaccination unknown | 69 | 70 | 11 | 9 | 89 | 71 |
| Unvaccinated | 20 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 18 |
| Vaccinated (ever, at least once) | 10 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 11 |
Q: quartile.
a Sub-cluster 1 comprises 16 cases including 13 autochthonous in Germany, one imported from outside of Europe and two for which the country of infection is unknown; sub-cluster 2 comprises 11 cases including nine autochthonous in Germany, one autochthonous in Poland, and one imported to Germany from Poland.
b The content of the cells corresponds to what is described in the column heading, unless this is otherwise specified by a row heading.
c Percentages are not presented when the total number of cases is less than 60.