Bangladesh's dengue season has already passed last year's. Malaria advice starts outside Dhaka.

Are there mosquitoes in Bangladesh? Yes, in every month, and 2026 is a heavy dengue year. By late October the health directorate had counted more hospitalized dengue cases than in all of 2025, and the Aedes mosquito behind them bites in daylight. Malaria is a narrower question. CDC reports no transmission in Dhaka but recommends prescription medicine for a list of districts that includes Cox's Bazar, Srimangal's tea country and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Dengue is surging in 2026

Bangladesh is on CDC's global dengue list, a Level 1 notice. The World Health Organization's South-East Asia office, using health directorate (DGHS) data, counted 114,251 cases and 352 deaths by October 19. Cases have climbed since early July, and September alone brought about half the year's total. By October 25, DGHS figures reported by the Dhaka Tribune had reached 123,948 cases and 384 deaths, and that day's 2,249 hospital admissions were the most of any day this year. Bangladesh counts only hospitalized cases, so true infections are higher. Dhaka also had a chikungunya surge in 2025, spread by the same mosquito.

Aedes bites by day, with peaks after sunrise and in the late afternoon. Put repellent on over sunscreen in the morning, reapply before dusk, and sleep in an air-conditioned room with the windows shut. Our dengue & Zika routine has the full schedule, and our guide to bites in a dengue zone covers the symptoms to watch afterward.

Malaria: Cox's Bazar, tea country and the Hill Tracts

Outside Dhaka, CDC's list of malaria districts covers the places most visitors go next: Cox's Bazar on the beach coast, Moulvibazar around Srimangal's tea estates, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, with Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachari all named. Chattogram and Sylhet are on it too. Khulna Division, home to the Bangladeshi side of the Sundarbans, has no district on the list. Most cases are Plasmodium falciparum, which is resistant to chloroquine here, and malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk to dawn.

Hotel nights and the season

Hotel reviews from Cox's Bazar and Srimangal describe rooms full of mosquitoes at night, so ask for air-conditioning, keep windows shut and check the net. CDC also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn.

Dengue follows the monsoon, so roughly December to February tends to be the easiest time and August to November the hardest. In 2025 the season ran late, so a December trip can still catch the tail.

WHO also reports a widespread measles outbreak since March 2026, so make sure your MMR vaccination is complete. Yellow fever vaccine isn't recommended, and Bangladesh asks for proof only from travelers arriving from a country with yellow fever risk.

Where you're going

Crossing into India? Our India briefing covers CDC's malaria advice there, which reaches Delhi and Mumbai.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a TripAdvisor review and a forum thread and linked so you can read them in full. The hotel review dates from 2016, and the Sundarbans thread comes from the Indian side of the forest, in West Bengal, so treat both as background.

• Hotel The Cox Today, Cox's Bazar · 2016

  A 2016 guest said mosquitoes kept them from sleeping even after they asked staff to spray the room. TripAdvisor ↗

• Sundarbans (Indian side, West Bengal) · boat trip; June rainy season mentioned

  Answering a question about mosquitoes, a visitor said the boat trip was breezy with no trouble on the water, and that the nights brought some mosquitoes that nets in the accommodation kept manageable. Another reply warned that the area is prone to malaria in the June rainy season and advised carrying repellent. TripAdvisor ↗

Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Bangladesh and which districts you visited. After time in a malaria district, that rule holds for a year.

Traveler questions