Frankfurt, Aug 27. (dpa/GNA) – Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died from malaria, after being infected by mosquitoes believed to have arrived in Germany on aircraft from malaria-endemic regions, airport operator Fraport and city health authorities said on Wednesday.
The first death occurred in early July, the Frankfurt city health authority said, adding that the cause had only been established after the patient died.
The second death occurred in August, it said. The health authority said a total of six workers had been infected with malaria tropica, the most dangerous form of the disease, in the course of their work.
The other four people infected are now recovering well, and have all been treated, the authority said.
In mid-July, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had initially confirmed an outbreak of four malaria cases among airport workers. “The individuals affected fell ill between July 4 and 6, 2026,” the RKI wrote in its Epidemiological Bulletin.
“It is assumed that the infection was transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito imported by aircraft.” The Anopheles mosquito is also known as the nail or marsh mosquito.
Fraport said mosquito traps had been set up and mosquitoes had been caught, which were now being examined in a laboratory, a spokesman said.
“The mosquito is probably already dead,” said Peter Tinnemann, head of the Frankfurt health authority. “There is no likelihood of person-to-person spread. The risk to the Frankfurt population is negligible.”
Malaria is a life-threatening disease transmitted by mosquitoes, according to the Foreign Ministry. “Particularly in at-risk groups, the disease can lead to coma and death. Protection against mosquito bites and the taking of preventive medication can prevent the disease.”
The RKI said “very rare” airport malaria occurs when an infectious mosquito is imported on an aircraft or in luggage, with infection then taking place on the plane, at the airport or in its immediate vicinity.
The last such case was documented in 2023, also at Frankfurt Airport, the institute said. Doctors treating people who work at or near airports with intercontinental connections, both passenger and cargo flights, should consider airport malaria as a possible diagnosis, particularly in summer, in cases of unexplained fever with no travel history, it said.
Frankfurt health authority doctor, Regina Ellwanger Berry, also stressed that airport malaria was so rare that it did not feature among the standard differential diagnoses used by doctors for patients with no travel history.
“Malaria is highly treatable if you know that it is malaria,” she said.
GNA