Two airport workers in Germany die of malaria from mosquito on plane
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An imported Anopheles mosquito carried over by an aircraft is thought to be the likely cause of malaria among six workers at Germany’s Frankfurt airport.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
- Two workers at Frankfurt airport died from malaria likely spread by an Anopheles mosquito brought in on a plane, with six others infected.
- Mosquito traps have been installed and caught mosquitoes will undergo genetic tests in Antwerp to determine their origin.
- Malaria symptoms can be severe and diagnosis may be delayed due to rarity, but early treatment usually leads to full recovery.
AI generated
FRANKFURT - Two workers at Germany’s Frankfurt airport who caught malaria from a mosquito thought to have arrived on a plane have died, the city’s health authority said on Aug 26.
Airport officials had earlier said one employee had perished, with six workers infected.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said an imported Anopheles mosquito carried over by an aircraft was the likely cause.
The other four infected employees were being treated in hospital, said an airport spokesman.
According to the RKI, Germany’s last outbreak of airport-based malaria was in 2023.
The rarity of the condition means diagnosis can be delayed, increasing the chances of severe symptoms.
The other five employees are being treated, the airport spokesman said, adding that mosquito traps have been installed at the airport.
The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, said it would analyse the malaria parasites in the patients’ blood samples.
Caused by parasites spread via Anopheles mosquitoes, malaria can cause symptoms including nausea, headache and intense waves of fever and chills.
The disease causes hundreds of thousands of deaths a year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Treatments exist and patients caught early with the disease usually make a complete recovery. AFP
