Risk of malaria at Swiss airports is very low, according to the federal government
Keystone-SDA
Despite new cases of malaria in the area around Frankfurt Airport, the Swiss authorities do not see any major risk for Switzerland.
The risk of such infections at Swiss airports is “very low”, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) told the news agency Keystone-SDA. The recent cases in Frankfurt am Main have not altered the risk assessment for Switzerland, the FOPH added.
Malaria is a notifiable disease in Switzerland. Around 300 cases of malaria are reported in Switzerland each year. Almost without exception, these infections are contracted abroad. However, the FOPH added that there have also been documented cases of so-called “airport malaria” in Switzerland in the past. This occurs when mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites are brought in on aeroplanes from malaria-endemic areas. If they subsequently bite people in the vicinity, they can transmit the disease.
A major outbreak occurred in Geneva in the summer of 1989: five people contracted malaria, even though they had not been to a malaria-endemic area. All lived less than two kilometres from Geneva-Cointrin Airport, as shown by case studies published in 1990.
Residents in Frankfurt fall ill
In Frankfurt am Main, six airport staff members contracted malaria in the summer, two of whom died. On Tuesday evening, it emerged that local residents had also been affected for the first time. The authorities have also classified these two cases as “airport malaria”. Those affected, from the Schwanheim district five kilometres from the airport, had not travelled abroad and did not work at the airport.
The Frankfurt Public Health Authority believes that infected Anopheles mosquitoes from a malaria-endemic area were brought in by aeroplane and subsequently made their way as far as Schwanheim. According to the authorities, the mosquitoes are capable of flying five to ten kilometres. Whether there is a link to the earlier cases is still under investigation.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
