- Two Frankfurt Airport workers die from malaria in a rare airport outbreak affecting six employees.
- The infected mosquitoes are believed to have arrived on a plane from a tropical region.
- Over 140 cases of airport malaria have been reported across Europe, including the UK.
- Insecticide sprays on aircraft from endemic regions are recommended by the WHO to prevent such outbreaks.
- The risk to the general public in the UK and at airports remains very low, with no person-to-person transmission.
Two Frankfurt Airport workers have died after a rare outbreak of malaria led to six employees contracting the serious infection spread by mosquitoes. Early reports indicate the mosquitoes may have arrived at Germany’s busiest airport on a plane, with traps now installed at the airport to capture any remaining mosquitoes for research. Jo Lines, Professor of Malaria Control and Vector Biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, confirms this rare phenomenon is known as airport malaria. He distinguishes the differences between airport malaria from imported malaria, of which about 1,000 to 2,000 cases are reported every year in the UK alone, most occurring in UK residents returning from visits to friends and relatives abroad.
In the recent German outbreak, six cases total raise the question of whether more than one infected mosquito was present. This is unusual but it is not the first European outbreak with six cases, having happened before in Paris and Brussels. Across the continent, including the UK, over 140 cases have been reported to date. Insecticide sprays are routinely deployed by cabin staff at the beginning of many flights to Europe from tropical and malaria-endemic countries to prevent airport malaria, with the procedure recommended in guidance from the World Health Organization. When sporadic cases of airport malaria appear, it indicates those preventative measures may not have been fully effective.
Malaria is not often seen by GPs and frontline clinicians in Europe, and patients are unlikely to present with any very specific or obvious symptoms. Checking for a recent history of travel to or from a malaria-endemic country is a critical step in diagnosis, though this can sometimes pose a problem for airport malaria cases where there is no history of travel. The outbreak seems to have been contained, with the Robert Koch Institute awaiting laboratory test results to determine the origins of the infection. Risk to human health from mosquitoes in the UK and airports is currently very low, and malaria is not transmissible from person to person. Passengers travelling to tropical destinations where malaria is present should seek medical advice around vaccinations and anti-malarial medication and take appropriate precautions such as using insect repellent.
Jo Lines of LSHTM shared: This rare phenomenon is known as airport malaria and it is important to distinguish the differences between airport malaria from imported malaria.
Fraport shared in a written statement: We have installed mosquito traps at the airport and are having captured insects examined in a laboratory.
Frankfurt health office shared in a written statement: Transmission from person to person plays no role in airport malaria and the risk to the Frankfurt population is negligible.
