page_title: Airport malaria
section_title: Airports, air routes and aircraft
hierarchical_section_title: Airport malaria / Causes / Airports, air routes and aircraft
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of airport distribution around the world. Contains 4381 airports, each marked by a red dot. Base map is NASA Blue Marble (PD), airport data is from OpenFlights (Open Database License).
context_page_description: Airport malaria, sometimes known as baggage, luggage or suitcase malaria, occurs when a malaria infected female Anopheles mosquito travels by aircraft from a country where malaria is common, arrives in a country where malaria is usually not found, and bites a person at or around the vicinity of the airport, or if the climate is suitable, travels in luggage and bites a person further away. The infected person usually presents with a fever in the absence of a recent travel history. There is often no suspicion of malaria, resulting in a delay in diagnosis and often death. Other causes of imported malaria need to be excluded first.
  Most mosquitoes on aircraft do not carry malaria and the few that do are relatively inefficient invaders. The climate of the host country also offers natural protection. The detection and treatment is the same as of malaria in general. Prevention involves control of mosquitoes at and around airports in the countries of departure and on the aircraft.
  Studies of airport malaria have been largely observations of individual scenarios, all unique in timing, place of infection and problems, in addition to possibilities of error.
caption: Airport distribution in 2008[16]
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