Alarm at Frankfurt Airport as malaria affects six employees and causes one death

Six employees at Frankfurt Airport in Germany have been diagnosed with malaria, while one of them has died. The news was confirmed by Fraport, the company responsible for managing the airport, as well as by the Robert Koch Institute.

The number of cases has risen from four, the figure reported in mid-July, to six affected employees. The other five employees are receiving specialized medical treatment.

Health authorities have clarified that there is no evidence of the disease spreading from one person to another, as malaria is transmitted only through the bite of an infected mosquito.

According to initial assessments, this is an extremely rare case of what is known as “airport malaria,” which occurs outside countries where the disease is endemic.

The leading hypothesis is that one or more infected mosquitoes arrived at the airport in mid-summer, inside luggage or in the cargo holds of an aircraft arriving from an area where malaria is circulating. They may then have bitten and infected the employees.

As part of the investigation, mosquito traps have been set up throughout the airport, and several insects have already been captured. The samples will be analyzed to determine whether they carry the parasite that causes malaria.

Fraport has provided employees with information and advised them that, if they develop symptoms similar to those of malaria, they should seek medical assistance and inform the doctor that they work at the airport.

The Robert Koch Institute announced that other malaria cases were also recorded in the Rhine-Main metropolitan area during July and August. Preliminary suspicions suggest that these cases may also be linked to work at Frankfurt Airport.