Frankfurt airport worker dies of malaria after mosquito bite

An employee at Frankfurt Airport has died after contracting malaria, with imported mosquitoes said to be the cause of the infection, reported dpa.

"Our deepest sympathies go to the relatives of the deceased," a spokesman for airport operator Fraport said on Wednesday.

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

It said the infection was believed to have been transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito, also known as a nail or marsh mosquito, imported by aircraft.

A Fraport spokesman said the company now knew of six employees who had become infected in the course of their work. They are receiving medical treatment, he said.

Mosquito traps had been set up and mosquitoes had been caught, the spokesman said, adding that the insects were being examined in a laboratory.

The RKI said "very rare" cases of malaria in airports occur when an infectious mosquito is imported in an aircraft or in luggage. The infection then takes place on the aircraft, at the airport or in its immediate surroundings.

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

"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.