7 ms·
Two German airport workers die of malaria after 'mosquito arrives on plane'
- garbawarb 20d agoCould these mosquitoes lead to malaria becoming endemic in Germany?
- ceejayoz 20d agoNo. They only survive in tropical/subtropical regions. A concerted effort to treat cases and reduce habitat can prevent it, too. The US wiped it out in the 50s; new cases largely come from travel.
- jmclnx 20d agoSadly, maybe wait 5 to 10 decades then it could exist in many areas were it does not now.
- tomjakubowski 20d agoThere were malaria epidemics in even quite temperate parts of Europe up to the mid 20th century, including Bavaria and even England, and it was endemic to parts of Italy and Greece. P. falciparum was found in bone samples of the Medicis. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8277918/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8277918/
- xhevahir 20d agoYes, I remember reading in Charles C. Mann's book 1493 an interesting chapter about how malaria was pretty common in preindustrial SE England, where it was known as "marsh fever" or "ague."
- matherial 20d agoNo. Malaria epidemics occurred in medieval Europe, both in warmer countries (Italy, Greece) and in France, Germany and England. It was also common in portions of the US until large-scale eradication efforts. It's unlikely to become a problem again because the climate is not optimal and these countries are wealthy, have advanced healthcare systems, and can spray everything with DDT again if they feel like doing it.
- toyg 20d agoYes to everything but "the climate is not optimal". The climate was not optimal. I expect this year's weather in most of Europe must have been pretty spectacular for mosquitoes; if it becomes a regular occurrence, as scientists suggest, things might get pretty spicy. Places like Milan are already massive breeding grounds for the most aggressive types of mosquitoes.
- chmod775 20d ago> Yes to everything but "the climate is not optimal". The climate was not optimal. I expect this year's weather in most of Europe must have been pretty spectacular for mosquitoes. You'd think that, but anecdotally there was much fewer this year in Germany than previous years. At least where I live most of the places where they'd have usually spawned (wetlands) have dried up and shrunk considerably. So really the hot weather made it a worse year for mosquitos.
- sajithdilshan 20d agoI don’t think DDT works for the new strains of Malaria mosquitoes we have nowadays.
- nerdsniper 20d agoUSA wiped out malaria in the 50s using DDT which also made the California condor go extinct in the wild. During the 70s-90s DDT became illegal to use in most countries around the globe. I’m not sure the USA would have been successful eradicating malaria without using DDT or something similar. DDT caused the Bald Eagle population to drop from about 400,000 birds to just 47 nesting pairs.
- the-grump 20d agoIt's wild to watch old videos of DDT application and attitudes back then. https://youtu.be/-UiCSvQvVys https://youtu.be/-UiCSvQvVys Plenty more out there.
- redsocksfan45 20d ago[dead]
- anttihaapala 20d agoMalaria was endemic in Finland until the beginning of the 20th century, the people used to lived inside smoke-heated chimneyless log cabins together with animals, mosquitoes... and Plasmodium vivax...
- ceejayoz 20d agoThat's the "treat cases" element of the story. No human cases means no reservoir for the spring's new mosquitos to draw from. It's why Florida's safe these days, despite the climate.
- xattt 20d agoMalaria was endemic to the Deep South in the States up until the 1950s, at which point it was declared eradicated thanks to a miracle chemical called DDT. They should put that on everything (/s). It is unlikely that malaria will establish itself, given that it gets cold and inhospitable to malaria-carrying mosquitos in Northern Europe. However, it is one of many things that could potentially be frog-boiled into existence in northern latitudes as a result of climate change. I live in an area where mosquitos were unbearable this year. You couldn’t do outdoor activities without a mosquito net. It’s bad enough but I don’t want to imagine what it would be like if the threat of mosquito-borne illness was layered on.
- Tangurena2 20d agoOnly a few species of mosquitos can carry the parasite. None of them live in that part of Europe. The swamps around the city of Rome were historically infested with those skeeters which is why we use the Italian word for the disease (which means "bad air").
- sajithdilshan 20d agoNo, most probably the mosquitoes will not survive the winter. Besides, given enough effort, Malaria can be eradicated and even a poor tropical country like Sri Lanka has has done that where mosquitoes are quite common throughout the year
- Havoc 20d agoKinda wild. I spent most of my childhood a couple hours drive from a malaria region and never heard of anyone getting sick locally that hadn’t travelled that way. So multiple people in Germany seems surprising.
- deleted 20d ago[deleted]
- luciandan 20d agoI guess this can still happen, depends for each person. Some people have higher immunity for certain bugs.
- catlikesshrimp 20d agoI live in a mosquito ladden region and some mosquitoe individuals ingest blood until they can no longer fly (they die) Many mosquitoe individuals feed until full, not necessarily from only one human. Now, some people are more resistant to some diseases than others. Sickle cell anemia heterozygote humans can live with plasmodium alright. What surprises me is that someone around an airport in Germany (urban area) actually died of malaria. Malaria causes intervals of very high fever which lead to hospitalization and treatment.
- M_bara 20d agoBeing a tropical disease makes it very unlikely and so a doctor will not even be considering it. By the time they’ve tried different therapies and start considering malaria, it’s too late. I’ve seen this happen to a couple of Africans who travel to Europe while gestation is ongoing and they’re dead 2 weeks later. As another thread said, it’s cheap to carry malaria meds when you travel, do it. If you start feeling offish - joint pain, fever, malaise, get a blood microscopic test for it and start the meds. Malaria is brutal
- fweimer 20d agoCases are infrequent, but not extremely unlikely. There's even a term for it, airport malaria: https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.41.2400237 https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.E...
- barrenko 20d ago[flagged]
- spiderfarmer 20d ago[flagged]
- testing22321 20d agoI got malaria twice in Africa. First time bad, second time REAL bad. I thought about death a little. There was a good story of a Dutchman living in Mali who got malaria a few times (everyone does). It’s manageable with the meds. Anyway he flies home, then develops symptoms. Goes to hospital and they freak. Full hazmat suits, isolation, doctors visiting from all over because they’d never seen it. Guy ends up dying because they wouldn’t give him the meds, because they didn’t know if it was safe, or what the right thing to do was. Moral of the story is that for anyone spending time in malaria zones, take the meds home with you. If you get symptomatic, take the meds and maybe not go to hospital in the developed world. Meds I took was “coartem” and an injectable.
- deleted 20d ago[deleted]
- 0bytes 20d agoIf you go to a Malaria zone, talk to your doctor to get Malarone and use it prophylactic (depending on the region)
- testing22321 20d agoI was there for years, you can’t take malarias that long.
- hilariously 20d agoAnd some of them have Super powerful side effects - I had a 3 day violent psychotic break I have no memory of, but I did get to wake up strapped to a bed!
- foobiekr 20d agoMalarone gave me insane almost-kindof-sortof waking dreams of concerning character. I have never had anything like that before or since.
- sagarun 20d agoI still remember they used disinsect the aircraft cabin, before you land in Indian airports with an aerosol spray https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/spray https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/spray https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection
- luciandan 20d agoThey do but chances are it's not 100% effective.
- zbjornson 20d agoRather, "there is no evidence to show that using insecticide to kill mosquitoes inside aircraft cabins is effective in preventing introduction and spread of mosquito-borne diseases." https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/aircraft-disinsection Not sure where the idea came from that spraying the cabin aisle would penetrate the luggage bins, cargo hold, under the seats, or really anywhere.
- nkmnz 20d ago1. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 2. Risk is convex, so every risk increase by measures not taken is multiplicative, not additive. The real question must be: does the disinfection do more harm than it provides reduction of risk.
- xelxebar 20d ago> 2. Risk is convex, so every risk increase by measures not taken is multiplicative, not additive. Wait. Is this true? f(x) = x^2 is convex but f(x+d) = f(x) + O(x). Are you saying that human risk assessment is estimated to be exponential?
- deleted 19d ago[deleted]
- 12ahs7 20d ago[flagged]
- UJ-FLD-ScrTr 20d agoTwo months passed between the two deaths. This already happened once in Frankfurt in 2023, fortunately without fatalities. https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Zwei-Tote-durch-Flughafen-Malaria-in-Frankfurt-Main-id31235897.html https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Zwei-Tote-durch-Flughafen-Malar...
- shevy-java 20d agoI can not say anything about this incident, but what I have noticed in the last some years is that mosquitos have become much more annoying even in larger cities of mediate temperature. That has not been the case say 30 years up to 10 years ago or so, give or take. The range of mosquito attacks has definitely increased in every axis. Kind of almost miniature mosquitos too - really small, like barely 0.5 cm at max in length or perhaps 0.6 cm, but annoying to no ends and very hungry for blood. One can speculate but I think the increased temperature range induced this for the most part.
- bamboozled 20d agoI've experienced the opposite so YMMV.
- roncesvalles 20d agoI'm pretty sure mosquito populations in India have been evolving in response to those electrified tennis rackets. Mosquitos now are much faster, smaller, and have more evasive flying patterns.
- Scoundreller 20d agothe bug-a-salt salt gun will never fail
- indianwashlets 20d ago[flagged]
- briandw 20d agoThey didn’t mention the strain. My understanding is that there are 5 strains. P. malariae is common and not particularly deadly while. When i visited Africa, all of the locals had had malaria multiple times. P. falciparum is extremely nasty and can kill quickly.
- crossroadsguy 20d agoI had dengue once. Fever was something else! Since then I've been scared shitless that there are 3 other major variants remaining and if the next time is one of those 3 I am most probably cooked. There are no vaccines here yet either.
- greenavocado 20d agoIs that the one where the degree of immunity is negative post infection
- wbl 20d agoYup. But OP is now eligible for a vaccine!
- deleted 20d ago[deleted]
- crossroadsguy 20d agoI just looked up and my country approved its first dengue vaccine last month. Maybe I should enquire about it :D
- crossroadsguy 20d agoIf you mean the specific strain then I do not know which one it was (I ). But yeah if I get bitten by another dengue strain then the immunity works against me. So (afaik; roughly speaking) I have ≈100% immunity against my strain and sort of negative immunity against the rest three. I just looked up my test report from years ago and it just says NS1 rapid antigen test and that one doesn't find which of DENV-1(-2, -3, -4) it was.
- mmgeorgi 20d agoCoincidentally just watched the fascinating history of the deadliest thing ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJYfSfh7eWs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJYfSfh7eWs
- M95D 20d agoWant to know the real tragedy here? Those deaths could be prevented if the hospital had better software and procedures. Like some other people noticed, malaria is rare in Germany. Doctors would not think of this diagnosis until it's too late. But... Malaria can be detected by modern hematology automated analyzers. I'm talking about ordinary hematology analyzers, not the ones specialized for malaria. All hospitals do at least one CBC+DIFF for all patients. If anyone cares to look at the warning flags and scattergrams [1], they could have seen that something's wrong, do a blood smear and confirm malaria in 30 minutes. It is a bit difficult, to be honest. Only a lab doc/tech would know how to interpret a scattergram, and some of the flags are extremely unreliable (not iRBC), but that doesn't mean they can be simply ignored. Unfortunately, in most labs, doctors who check and validate results, do that from the lab software app, not directly from the analyzer, and - devs, take notes! - most hospital/laboratory software I saw (and I saw many) ignore all flags and graphics send by the analyzers. They just take the numbers and that's it. When doctors look at a report, they don't see flags or scattergrams, just the numbers. Can't even tell if the numbers are reliable or not. And this is how malaria diagnosis, and lots of others, are missed. [1] https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/22/3397 https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/22/3397
- rdsubhas 19d agoYep. The system in general is great for treatment, but fails for diagnosis. It takes them a long time to diagnose, sometimes years. But once they manage to do it, then they bring in all the heavy artillery and the health care machine works at it's best. Sadly, it's often too late. Looks to be the case here, appears clearly a diagnosis delay. It does not take much for a skilled system to connect "airport worker" and the right lab readings together. I can't imagine what these people would have gone through. They would have been given the "just a flu" treatment for some days, and then waited many more days for appointments. RIP. PS: What you've said is pretty eye opening! This would amplify a lot of the diagnosis problems.
- M95D 19d agoThat's because lots of investment money go in treatments, not diagnosis. Diagnosed patients are captive consumers. They will pay to get better. AI has the potential to help a lot with diagnosis, but considering that many relevant data don't even enter the system, I have doubts about how effective it could be. On the other hand, I would not trust a cloud AI (or cloud in general) to process my medical data. The temptation to abuse that access for marketing, profiling, insurance prices, etc. would be irresistible.