German airport workers die from malaria caught from plane-riding mosquito

What the report says

Two workers at Frankfurt Airport in Germany have died after contracting malaria, in an incident authorities say was most likely caused by an imported mosquito that arrived on an aircraft. According to Al Jazeera’s reporting, the city’s health authority and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute identified an Anopheles mosquito as the likely source, though the exact chain of transmission has not been definitively established.

Airport officials first reported one death among six infected employees, but the toll later rose to two. The remaining four infected workers are being treated in hospital. The airport has also deployed mosquito traps on site while investigators try to learn more about how the insect entered the hub.

Malaria is uncommon in Germany, and the Robert Koch Institute said the country’s last airport-linked outbreak was in 2023. Public health experts note that rare cases can be harder to detect quickly because doctors may not immediately suspect malaria, which can delay treatment and increase the risk of serious illness. In general, malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that can be fatal if not treated promptly, but patients often recover fully when it is caught early.

As a follow-up step, mosquitoes captured at the airport will be sent to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp for genetic analysis. The incident highlights the risk that international travel can occasionally introduce disease-carrying insects into places where local transmission is not normally expected.