What is airport and luggage malaria? Cases are on the rise, study warns

A startling new study finds an increase in reports of airport and luggage malaria in Europe in recent years.

An international team of researchers identified 145 cases between 2018 and 2022 — 105 were classified as airport malaria, 32 as luggage malaria, and for eight cases, the investigators did not distinguish between the two types. 

More than a third of reported cases since 2000 occurred from 2018 to 2022, with a peak in 2019, according to findings published last week in the journal Eurosurveillance.

Also known as Odyssean malaria, a nod to the long-suffering traveler of Greek myth, luggage or airport malaria refers to an infection incurred by someone who has not recently traveled to a malaria-endemic country or region. The person is instead infected by a mosquito transported by luggage, aircraft or parcel.

The majority of the airport malaria cases in the new research were reported in France (52), Belgium (19) and Germany (nine). The patients often worked near or lived close to an international airport, with men disproportionately affected.

Luggage malaria cases are more rare — only 32 were recorded during the five-year study period.

Twenty-three cases were reported in France, and three each were logged in Italy and Germany. Nine case reports referenced a specific airport, with Paris Charles de Gaulle airport most often mentioned.

Of 133 cases with a known outcome, 124 patients recovered and nine died. Patients were most often in their late 30s when they were infected. Those who died were typically in their late 50s.

To address the increase in cases, the researchers recommend airlines follow World Health Organization disinsection procedures, which advise spraying pesticide in passenger cabins, including in toilet areas, and in the cargo hold.

Experts also urge physicians to consider malaria as a cause when treating cases of inexplicable fever in patients without a travel history that corroborates infection.

Malaria is typically found in tropical climates and large areas of Africa, Asia, Central and South America and parts of the Middle East.

Malaria kills more than 400,000 people every year — mostly children under 5 and pregnant women.

The disease is typically transmitted via a bite from an infected female Anopheles mosquito.

Last year, authorities reported that malaria spread from mosquitoes to people in the US for the first time in two decades.

Symptoms of malaria include fever, shaking, chills, headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and exhaustion.

Malaria can be effectively treated when it’s diagnosed early. If the illness is not treated promptly, it can lead to jaundice, anemia, kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma and death.