Imported Mosquito Sparks Deadly Malaria Outbreak at German Airport

(Frankfurt Airport. Photo by BBC News)

Two workers at Frankfurt airport in Germany have died from malaria, health officials said on Wednesday.

The disease came from a mosquito believed to have arrived on a plane from somewhere else.

Airport officials had said earlier that one employee had died and six workers were infected.

The other four infected employees are receiving hospital treatment.

Germany’s disease control institute said an Anopheles mosquito that was brought in by aircraft was likely responsible for spreading the disease.

Malaria is spread by these mosquitoes and causes symptoms like nausea, headaches and waves of fever and chills.

Germany’s last outbreak of airport-based malaria happened in 2023, so this type of case is rare.

Because malaria is uncommon in Germany, people can take longer to receive a diagnosis.

This delay can allow the disease to become more serious.

The airport has now installed mosquito traps to prevent this from happening again.

A tropical medicine institute in Belgium will examine the malaria parasites in the patients’ blood samples.

Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

However, treatments exist for the disease.

Patients who are diagnosed and treated early usually recover completely.