Officials urge calm after malaria outbreak kills two staff at Frankfurt airport
Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died after contracting malaria in a rare outbreak linked to the airport. Six people have been infected with malaria tropica, the most dangerous form of the disease, German health authorities said.
The outbreak has been under investigation since last month. Four other infected workers were treated in hospital and have recovered or are now considered out of danger. One of the two people who died became ill in early July, while the other fell sick in mid-August.
Authorities believe the infections may have been caused by an infected Anopheles stephensi mosquito that arrived at Frankfurt Airport on an aircraft. Such cases are known as “airport malaria,” in which mosquitoes from malaria-endemic regions can potentially survive a journey inside aircraft cabins or baggage areas.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s federal public health institute, considers this explanation the most likely source. However, investigators are still working to establish exactly how the workers became infected and whether a single mosquito was responsible.
Mosquito traps have now been installed in and around Frankfurt Airport. Captured mosquitoes are being examined at a tropical medicine laboratory in Antwerp, Belgium, to determine their species and potentially trace their origin. Airport authorities are also reviewing existing mosquito-control and aircraft-disinfection measures.
Health officials have warned airport employees about the symptoms of malaria and asked doctors to pay particular attention to unexplained fever among people who work at or around the airport. The warning is important because malaria is rarely acquired inside Germany, meaning doctors may not immediately suspect the disease when there is no recent travel history.
Despite the deaths, authorities are urging the public not to panic. Frankfurt’s health department said the risk to the wider population remains very low. Malaria cannot be transmitted directly from one person to another; infection normally occurs when an infected mosquito bites a person.
The last documented outbreak of airport malaria in Germany also occurred at Frankfurt Airport in 2023, when one person was infected and successfully treated. Researchers say cases of airport and baggage malaria remain extremely rare in Europe, although warmer temperatures could increase the ability of mosquitoes to survive after arriving in previously unsuitable environments.