Mosquitoes Bite Workers Year-Round Inside Potsdamer Platz Station

Workers at several shops inside Berlin's Potsdamer Platz railway station reported on 21 October 2026 that they are still being bitten by mosquitoes at a rate of 'two or three stings per day,' despite the autumn season. Employees at an Asian market, a flower shop and a kiosk inside the station said the problem had persisted for years and remained as bad in October as in summer. They had tried fans, anti-mosquito plug-in devices and protective stickers with limited success. Sandra Junglen, a virologist at the Charité hospital, explained that the northern house mosquito has successfully adapted to urban underground environments: the stable warmth and darkness of U-Bahn tunnels allow the insects to survive and breed year-round, a phenomenon also documented in the London Underground. BVG, which operates the U-Bahn portion, told the Tagesspiegel it had detected no unusual mosquito accumulation and saw no need to act. Deutsche Bahn, responsible for the S-Bahn sections of the station, acknowledged the mosquito presence as 'a known natural phenomenon' and said it was collecting data before considering targeted measures. While the northern house mosquito can theoretically transmit West Nile Virus, experts considered the risk in a tunnel environment negligible.