Third death reported in rare malaria outbreak near Frankfurt Airport

A third person has died from malaria in a rare outbreak linked to Frankfurt Airport, German health authorities confirmed on Thursday. The latest victim was a resident of the Schwanheim district, which borders the airport, and was one of two new cases reported in the neighborhood earlier this week. Neither of the newly infected individuals had traveled to a malaria-endemic region or worked at the airport. The cluster, which began in July, has now resulted in three fatalities. Six airport workers were initially diagnosed with malaria tropica, the most dangerous form of the disease, in July and August. Two of those workers later died. The two new cases in Schwanheim, confirmed on Tuesday, brought the total number of infections linked to the airport area to at least eight since July. Health officials attribute the outbreak to "airport malaria," a rare phenomenon where an infected mosquito is transported to a non-endemic region via aircraft or luggage. The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health agency, notes that such mosquitoes can fly between 5 and 10 kilometers. The infections in Schwanheim occurred approximately 5 kilometers from the airport.