Malaria Deaths in Germany Linked to Warmer Climate, Expert Warns

Two employees at Frankfurt Airport, Germany's busiest, have died from malaria, with six other workers infected in July. Authorities suspect mosquitoes carrying the disease arrived on an airplane and subsequently infected the workers.

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Malaria is a disease that threatens to spread because it is getting warmer. The malaria mosquito reproduces faster when the temperature is high, i.e., when it is warm and humid, so it spreads faster.

Mosquito traps have been set up at the airport, and captured insects will be analyzed to determine their species and origin. Epidemiologist Zoran Radovanović explained that malaria thrives in warmer, more humid conditions, which accelerate mosquito reproduction and disease spread. He noted that while mosquito bites are the most common transmission method, human-to-human transmission is possible in rare cases.

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But in exceptional cases, it can be transmitted from person to person. However, the mortality rate is 10 percent, and that is for tropical malaria.

Radovanović described the symptoms of tropical malaria, which include shivering and high fever, appearing within 24 to 72 hours. He also highlighted that the mortality rate for tropical malaria is around 10 percent. Historically, regions like the former Yugoslavia battled malaria, with approximately 1.2 million people infected in 1946. This was eventually eradicated through widespread mosquito control, including spraying and draining marshlands, with assistance from the World Health Organization.

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Our region also suffered from malaria in 1946. At that time, about 1,200,000 people in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were ill with malaria, while in Macedonia only 600,000. We managed to eradicate it with the help of the World Health Organization – by spraying with certain chemicals, then when they developed resistance, we sprayed with others, bogs and swamps were drained, all mosquitoes were suppressed.