Two cases of airport-associated falciparum malaria in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October 2019

Wieters, Imke; Eisermann, Philip; Borgans, Frauke; Giesbrecht, Katharina; Goetsch, Udo; Just‐Nübling, G.; Kessel, Johanna; Lieberknecht, Simone; Muntau, Birgit; Tappe, Dennis; Schork, Joscha; Wolf, Timo

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.es.2019.24.49.1900691

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The detection of exotic Anopheles species at Belgium and Dutch airports demonstrates their ability to move from areas of origin using air traffic as pathway. However, detection of exotic Anopheles is not new at airports, and even malaria cases caused by infected non-indigenous Anopheles at European airports, have been registered [4,5,101]. The authors consider that it is unlikely that exotic Anopheles species will establish in Belgium or the Netherlands, due to their ecological and climatic requirements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe

Ibáñez-Justicia

Smitz

Hartog

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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In Europe, the air-borne accidental introduction of exotic mosquito species (EMS) has been demonstrated using mosquito surveillance schemes at Schiphol International Airport (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Based upon these findings and given the increasing volume of air transport movements per year, the establishment of EMS after introduction via aircraft is being considered a potential risk. Here we present the airport surveillance results performed by the Centre for Monitoring of Vectors of the Netherlands, by the Monitoring of Exotic Mosquitoes (MEMO) project in Belgium, and by the Public Health England project on invasive mosquito surveillance. The findings of our study demonstrate the aircraft mediated transport of EMS into Europe from a wide range of possible areas in the world. Results show accidental introductions of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, as well as exotic Anopheles and Mansonia specimens. The findings of Ae. albopictus at Schiphol airport are the first evidence of accidental introduction of the species using this pathway in Europe. Furthermore, our results stress the importance of the use of molecular tools to validate the morphology-based species identifications. We recommend monitoring of EMS at airports with special attention to locations with a high movement of cargo and passengers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe

Ibáñez-Justicia

Smitz

Hartog

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…However, air transport has created its own vulnerabilities, because it is a vector in the spread of pathogens and diseases on various scales. This is true from the scale of individual cases of airport malaria ( Wieters et al, 2019 ) to the global spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV; Flahault and Valleron, 1992 ), and epidemics including SARS or MERS ( Gardner et al, 2016 ; Ruan et al, 2006 ). Air transport also increases person-to-person transmission risks of respiratory pathogens as a result of high crowd densities in enclosed spaces ( Browne et al, 2016 ), i.e.…”

Section: Aviation Is Not Only a Victimmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risks, resilience, and pathways to sustainable aviation: A COVID-19 perspective

Gößling

2020

Journal of Air Transport Management

139

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This paper discusses the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reconsider the foundations of the global aviation system. There is much evidence that air transport creates opportunities as well as risks. While the former accrue to businesses and individuals, risks are imposed on society. Pandemics, in which aviation has a role as a vector of pathogen distribution, as well as the sector's contribution to climate change are examples of long-standing negative externalities that continue to be ignored in assessments of aviation's economic performance and societal importance. As commercial aviation has shown limited economic resilience throughout its history, this short paper questions whether a return to business-as-usual, supported by very significant State aid payments, is desirable. The volume growth model championed by industry and aviation proponents may have to be replaced with an alternative model of a slimmed air transport system that is economically less vulnerable and accounting for its environmental impacts.

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“…In the period 1987-1995, 31 cases of airport malaria have been reported in Europe [26], including the cluster of six cases in Belgium in 1995 [1]. More recently, in 2019, two airport associated malaria cases were reported from Germany [27]. In 2020, besides the two cases in Belgium, also three airport malaria cases were reported from France [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An outbreak report of the two autochthonous cases of airport malaria in Belgium in 2020

Bortel

Poel²,

Hermans

et al. 2021

Preprint

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We report an outbreak investigation of two fatal cases of autochthonous Plasmodium falciparum that occurred in Belgium in September 2020. Various hypotheses of potential source of infection were investigated. Based on the collected information, the most likely route of transmission was through an infectious exotic Anopheles mosquito that arrived via the international airport of Brussels or the Military airport Melsbroek and infected the cases who lived at five kilometres from the airports. Based on a genomic analysis of the parasites collected from the two cases, the most likely origin of the Plasmodium was Gabon or Cameroon. Further, the parasites collected from the two Belgian patients were identical-by-descent, which supports the assumption that the two infections originated from the bite of the same mosquito, during an interrupted feeding. Despite these cases, airport malaria remains a rare event. Yet, it has significant implications, particularly for the patient, as delayed or missed diagnosis of the cause of illness often results in high rates of complications and mortality. Therefore, to prevent such severe or fatal outcomes, a number of public health actions are suggested including increased awareness among health practitioners especially those working in the vicinity of airports and increased surveillance of exotic mosquito species at airports.

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Two cases of airport-associated falciparum malaria in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October 2019

Cited by 13 publications

References 13 publications

Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe

Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe

Risks, resilience, and pathways to sustainable aviation: A COVID-19 perspective

An outbreak report of the two autochthonous cases of airport malaria in Belgium in 2020

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