Two German airport workers die of malaria after 'mosquito arrives on plane'

BREAKING: Two workers at Germany's busiest airport, Frankfurt, have died of malaria after mosquitoes are believed to have arrived on a plane, public health officials say.

Two workers at Frankfurt Airport have died of malaria, in Germany.

Six employees at the country's busiest airport were infected in an outbreak first detected in July. Public health officials believe the mosquitoes arrived on a plane. The workers had different jobs in different areas of the airport, and none of them had travelled to a malaria region, which is exactly why the diagnosis can come late. The Robert Koch Institute says a delayed diagnosis raises the risk of a severe course, and that's what happened here.

This is the insect responsible, the Anopheles mosquito, and traps are now set across the airport so labs can identify the species and where it came from. Officials are testing blood samples to work out whether one mosquito did this or six.

For the public, the risk is called very, very low, since malaria doesn't pass between people. But two men went to work at an airport and caught a tropical disease that killed them. Lab results on the source are still weeks away.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.