Frankfurt Airport steps up mosquito checks after two workers die of malaria

German health authorities are trying to reassure the public after two workers at Frankfurt Airport, the country’s busiest airport, died from malaria following a rare outbreak.

Mosquito traps have now been placed across Frankfurt Airport, while officials have begun monitoring mosquito activity at the site. A detailed investigation is also under way to establish how the affected workers contracted the disease.

Since July, six people working at or around the airport are known to have contracted malaria tropica, the most severe form of the disease. Officials believe the infections may have been caused by mosquitoes that arrived at the airport aboard an aircraft.

Rare malaria outbreak hits airport

Of the two workers who died, one fell ill in early July and the other in mid-August. The four remaining people who contracted the infection were treated in hospital and are now considered out of danger, according to Frankfurt’s public health department.

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Airport workers have been sent letters warning them about possible symptoms and urging them to remain alert. Doctors have also been asked to consider malaria when treating people with unexplained fever who work at or near the airport.

In a statement on its website, Frankfurt’s health department explained the phenomenon known as “airport malaria”, in which mosquitoes from regions where malaria is common can be transported on aircraft, either inside passenger cabins or in baggage compartments.

The department said such infections were extremely uncommon and could therefore be missed easily, leading to delayed diagnosis and increasing the risk of death. It also stressed that malaria cannot spread directly from one person to another.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease-control agency, believes the Frankfurt cases may have been caused by an Anopheles stephensi mosquito brought into the country on an aircraft.

Airport mosquito checks intensify

Fraport, the company that operates Frankfurt Airport, confirmed that mosquito traps had been installed at various locations around the airport and that insects had already been collected. The mosquitoes are being analysed at a tropical medicine laboratory in Antwerp, Belgium.

Peter Tinnemann, head of Frankfurt’s health department, told broadcaster Hessische Rundfunk that the mosquito believed to be responsible was “probably already dead”.

He said warmer temperatures in Germany meant mosquitoes could survive for longer periods than in the past, although he stressed that the danger to people living in Frankfurt remained low.

“Not everyone should assume that just because they develop a headache, fever or other vague symptoms, they have malaria because of what happened at the airport,” he said.

However, Tinnemann said the emergence of several cases meant authorities needed to establish whether existing precautions, including aircraft disinfection and the removal of potential mosquito breeding sites, were being properly implemented.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains hotspot

A study tracking cases of airport and baggage malaria across Europe between 1969 and 2024 identified 145 such infections, including nine recorded in Germany.

The Robert Koch Institute said Frankfurt had previously experienced an outbreak of airport malaria in 2023, when one confirmed case was identified and the patient was successfully treated.

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Around 90% of malaria cases worldwide occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in the region with direct flights to Frankfurt include Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, all of which have a high or widespread risk of malaria. Namibia and South Africa also have direct connections, although their malaria risk is considered moderate to low.

What is malaria tropica?

Malaria tropica (also known as falciparum malaria) is the most severe and dangerous form of malaria in humans, caused by the single-celled parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Transmitted primarily through the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, it predominates in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa.

Unlike milder strains of malaria that follow predictable fever cycles every 48 to 72 hours, malaria tropica produces irregular, constant, or rapidly recurring high fevers alongside severe flu-like symptoms, extreme fatigue, standard body aches, and digestive distress.