Malaria patient dies, Frankfurt city officials report

A person who contracted malaria in Frankfurt am Main has died, city officials announced on Thursday.

“The individual in question was one of the two cases reported earlier this week from the Schwanheim district who lived in the immediate vicinity of Frankfurt Airport. Both individuals were infected with the malaria pathogen Plasmodium falciparum, even though they had not previously traveled to a malaria-endemic area and had not worked at the airport,” the city of Frankfurt said in a statement.

According to the city’s public health department, the two newly infected individuals contracted the disease from a mosquito that had entered a flight bound for Frankfurt.

On Tuesday, the city had already reported two cases of malaria in that neighborhood. This brings the total number of malaria-related deaths linked to air travel in Frankfurt this year to three. Last summer, six employees of the airport operator Fraport contracted the disease and two died.

Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport, had reportedly set up mosquito traps at the airport and was having captured insects examined in a laboratory. Employees have been advised to seek medical care if they develop typical malaria symptoms and to inform doctors that they work at the airport.

The Frankfurt health office described the so-called “airport malaria” as a “very rare” form of transmission outside malaria-endemic areas. “Transmission from person to person plays no role in airport malaria,” a spokesperson said.

Malaria is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes that become infected themselves. The World Health Organization says the disease can be life-threatening if left untreated. Symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, confusion, seizures and breathing difficulties.