Officials urge calm after malaria outbreak kills two staff at Frankfurt airport

Mosquito traps are set up at Germany’s biggest airport and doctors are asked to look out for symptoms of disease German health officials are seeking to reassure the public after two workers at the country’s biggest airport died of malaria. Mosquito traps have been set up at Frankfurt airport and a mosquito monitoring process is under way. A detailed investigation is being conducted to clarify how the workers contracted the disease. Since last month, six people are known to have caught malaria tropica – the most dangerous form of the disease – in connection with their work at the airport. Of the two that have died, one began getting sick at the start of July and the other in mid-August.

Missing media or need the complete publisher report? Open The Guardian World

Scoop News DeskFrankfurt · Published Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 3:23 PM UTCUpdated Friday, August 28, 2026 at 1:28 PM UTC

Scoop News reporting summary

The text below was supplied by the Scoop Newsroom app. Third-party reporting is attributed in the source panel.

The four other people who were infected have been treated in hospital and are now out of danger, according to Frankfurt’s public health department. Peter Tinnemann, the head of Frankfurt’s health department, told the broadcaster Hessische Rundfunk: “The mosquito is probably already dead.” He said higher temperatures in Germany increased the likelihood of mosquitoes surviving for extended periods but the risk to the population of Frankfurt was low. “Not everyone should assume that just because they have a headache, fever and nonspecific symptoms they are now infected with malaria because of the case at the airport,” he added.

Breaking news moves fast. Follow @Will466513 on X for breaking news alerts. Follow on X →

Story timeline