Zac Efron Speaks Out After Emergency Hospitalization for Deadly Infection

Zac Efron posted an update following his emergency hospitalization after picking up a serious bacterial infection in Papua New Guinea earlier this month.

Zac Efron Through The Years

“Very thankful to everyone who has reached out,” the Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile actor captioned a photo on Instagram on Sunday, December 29, that showed him with a group of villagers and their children in the island country. “I did get sick in Papua New Guinea but I bounced back quick and finished an amazing 3 weeks in P.N.G.”

“I’m home for the holidays with my friends and family,” he concluded. “Thanks for all the love and concern, see you in 2020!”

As previously reported, the 32-year-old was transported on an emergency flight out of Papua New Guinea to Australia just before Christmas after suffering an “extraordinary life-or-death medical emergency,” according to Australia’s Sunday Telegraph.

Celebrity Health Scares

The former High School Musical star had been in the country filming his new Quibi series, ironically called Killing Zac Efron.

Zac Efron Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

The newspaper reported that he was flown to an airport in Brisbane, Australia, accompanied by a medical evacuation crew after contracting a “form of typhoid or similar bacterial infection.”

Dr. Glenn McKay, director of Medical Rescue, which oversaw Efron’s flight, told the Telegraph that they “retrieved a U.S. citizen in his 30s from PNG to Brisbane for medical attention in Australia.”

Zac Efron’s Dating History: A Timeline of His Famous Exes

He was reportedly in a “stable” condition when he was admitted to St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Spring Hill, where he was treated for several days before being allowed to return home to the U.S. on Christmas Eve.

Efron was spotted out in L.A. on Saturday, December 28, attending an event for Vejo, a brand that makes specialist blenders.

He is executive producing and starring in Killing Zac Efron, which Quibi said in a press release in November would feature the Greatest Showman star heading “deep into the jungles of a remote, dangerous island to carve his own name in expedition history.”

The actor was spending 21 days living off the grid “with nothing but basic gear, a guide partner and a will to survive.”