Frankfurt airport worker dies in rare malaria outbreak linked to plane mosquitoes

A worker at Frankfurt Airport has died after contracting malaria during a rare outbreak that has now infected six employees at Germany’s busiest airport, with health officials saying mosquitoes likely arrived on an incoming flight and spread the disease among ground staff.

The remaining five infected workers are currently receiving medical treatment, according to a spokesperson for Fraport, the company that operates the airport. Officials have installed mosquito traps around the airport grounds, and any insects captured will undergo laboratory analysis to determine their species and point of origin.

The Fraport spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that one employee died as a result of the infection, and said the company has shared detailed information with all staff members while urging anyone experiencing symptoms to see a doctor promptly.

Reports in July indicated the outbreak initially involved four infected workers. The Robert Koch Institute, a German federal agency responsible for disease control and public health research, said at the time that the four employees became ill between July 4 and July 6, and that mosquitoes carrying the disease had entered the country aboard an aircraft.

According to the institute, malaria cases in Germany almost always involve long haul travelers who contracted the disease while visiting regions where malaria remains endemic, making transmission within a German airport an unusual occurrence. The institute noted in its epidemiological bulletin that the absence of a travel history in such cases can delay diagnosis, and that a delayed diagnosis raises the risk of a more severe illness. The institute also said the last documented case of airport acquired malaria in Germany occurred in 2023, also at Frankfurt Airport.

The Frankfurt Public Health Department is leading the investigation into the current outbreak. According to the World Health Organization, malaria spreads through the bites of certain mosquito species and occurs predominantly in tropical regions. The disease results from a parasite rather than direct person to person transmission, and while it remains both preventable and curable, symptoms can range from mild to life threatening depending on how quickly treatment begins.

The airport has stepped up surveillance measures following the outbreak, and health authorities continue monitoring the situation as they work to determine exactly how the mosquitoes entered the facility and whether additional cases might emerge among airport staff or travelers who passed through the terminal during the affected period.