Overview
- Officials confirmed on Wednesday that two of six Frankfurt Airport employees infected with malaria have died and that the four other workers have recovered.
- Germany’s Robert Koch Institute says the most likely cause was an infected Anopheles mosquito carried into the airport on an aircraft.
- The first four cases were identified after employees fell ill between July 4 and July 6, with the cluster recognised in mid‑July.
- Fraport and local health authorities have set mosquito traps across the airport and are sending captured insects to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp for genetic tests to identify species, origin and whether one or multiple mosquitoes caused the cluster.
- Health officials say the risk to the wider Frankfurt population is very low because malaria is spread only by infected mosquitoes, not person to person, but they warn that lack of travel history can delay diagnosis and lead to severe outcomes; Frankfurt previously recorded an airport‑linked case in 2023.