Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died after contracting malaria from a mosquito believed to have arrived on an inbound aircraft. Four other employees who were also infected remain hospitalized and are receiving treatment, according to the city's health authority.
According to CBS News, Germany's Robert Koch Institute identified an imported Anopheles mosquito carried by an aircraft as the likely cause of the outbreak. Airport officials had initially reported one death and six infections before updating those figures this week.
Traps have since been installed at the airport, and captured mosquitoes will be sent to a laboratory for analysis to determine their species and origin. The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, said it would analyze malaria parasites found in the patients' blood samples. Laboratory results to identify the source of the infections were not expected for several weeks.
Frankfurt public health officials addressed concerns about broader risk in a letter obtained by the BBC. "For the population of Frankfurt, the risk is considered very, very low. The disease is not transmissible from person to person but is always transmitted by mosquitoes," officials wrote.
An airport spokesperson told the BBC: "We have provided comprehensive information to all employees and encourage them to consult a doctor if they experience any symptoms."
The Robert Koch Institute noted that Germany's last outbreak of airport-based malaria occurred in 2023. Because the condition is rare in Germany, diagnosis is often delayed, which increases the chances of severe symptoms developing before treatment begins.
Malaria is caused by parasites spread through Anopheles mosquito bites and can produce nausea, headache, and intense waves of fever and chills. The disease kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, with most deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Patients diagnosed early generally make a full recovery with available treatments.
The institute said malaria in Germany almost exclusively affects long-haul travelers who were infected in malaria-endemic regions, making transmission within an airport setting rare.
