German airport worker dies of malaria after mosquito imported on plane

Six employees in total were infected – five survivors are receiving medical care

Five airport workers in Frankfurt have been infected with malaria and one has died after being bitten by a stowaway mosquito, health officials have said.

The employees are thought to have been infected in early July, but their diagnosis was delayed due to a lack of travel history to malaria-endemic regions, according to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal agency responsible for disease control.

It is believed that they were bitten by mosquitoes which arrived at the airport on a plane, most likely from Africa, where 95 per cent of global malaria cases are found.

The five surviving airport workers – who are all male and are said to work in different parts of the facility and in different jobs – are undergoing medical care.

Traps have now been installed across the airport in an attempt to catch any remaining mosquitoes and analyse their origin, according to an airport spokesperson.

It is not the first time that Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest travel hub, has recorded a case of malaria, according to the Robert Koch Institute, which added that there was another incidence in 2023.

More than 610,000 people die of malaria every year, the overwhelming majority children under five in Africa who are unable to quickly access treatment.

The disease, which is caused by a parasite carried by infected mosquitoes, is largely curable if treated early with antimalarials.

In Britain and Europe, there are thousands of imported cases of malaria every year reported in returning travellers from Africa and Asia – but local transmission is exceedingly rare.

Of the 5,000 or so cases recorded in Europe every year, typically just five are caught locally – either from an airport or from a non-infected European mosquito picking up the disease from a sickened person and spreading it to others.

Early symptoms include fever, headaches, and chills, which can quickly develop into multi-organ failure.

Vaccines were made available for the first time in 2024 and are licenced for use in young children in Africa, although they are thought to be only between 30 and 50 per cent effective at preventing the disease.

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