Frankfurt Airport reports death after six employees contract malaria

An employee at Frankfurt Airport has died after contracting malaria, with the infection believed to have been transmitted by an imported mosquito, airport operator Fraport said on Wednesday, August 26.

“Our deepest sympathies go to the relatives of the deceased,” a Fraport spokesman said, according to dpa.

In mid-July, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed an outbreak involving four malaria cases among airport employees between July 4 and July 6.

The RKI said the infections were believed to have been transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito, also known as a nail or marsh mosquito, that had been brought into Germany aboard an aircraft.

A Fraport spokesman said the company was now aware of six employees who had contracted malaria in connection with their work. All six are receiving medical treatment, he said.

Mosquito traps have been installed at the airport and mosquitoes have been captured, the spokesman said. The insects are being examined in a laboratory.

The RKI said malaria infections acquired at airports are “very rare” and can occur when an infected mosquito is transported into a country aboard an aircraft or in luggage. The infection can then occur on the aircraft, at the airport or in its immediate surroundings.

The most recent such case was documented in 2023, also at Frankfurt Airport.

The RKI urged doctors to consider the possibility of airport-acquired malaria when treating people who work at airports with intercontinental passenger or cargo connections, as well as people living or working in their immediate vicinity.

“Doctors treating people who work at airports with intercontinental flight connections - passenger and cargo flights - or who are in their immediate vicinity should consider the rare possibility of airport malaria as a differential diagnosis, especially in summer, in cases of unexplained fever with no history of travel,” the RKI said.

By Tamilla Hasanova