["There were the yellow spot is…" Dürer's malaria: no valid diagnosis].

There is a pen and water self portrait showing Albrecht Duerer, pointing to a spot below his ribs. In an inscription the artist declares that this area is painful. The drawing inspired authors in the past to diagnose a malaria infection which occurred presumably in the Netherlands during an excursion to the malarious area of Sealand in December 1520. Duerer mentions on his diary that the weather was cold and bad. This makes the presence of active, sporozoite-carrying mosquitoes and an infection very unlikely. Duerer reports fever attacks throughout his lifetime, not only after his return from the Netherlands. Considering the natural course of a Plasmodium vivax-infection it is not possible to accept the hypothesis that Duerer suffered from malaria and that this disease was the cause of his death at the age of 57.