Cairo is malaria-free. Its mosquitoes work the night shift.

Yes, mostly at night. Cairo's main biter is the house mosquito, which comes out after dark around Nile-side hotels, terraces and boats and can carry West Nile virus. Egypt has been certified malaria-free since 2024 and no dengue has been documented in Cairo or Giza, so pyramid and museum days need little, and an evening repellent habit and a shut balcony door cover the rest.

No malaria, no dengue, and a West Nile study

The World Health Organization certified Egypt malaria-free on October 20, 2024, and CDC's Egypt page has no malaria section and lists no malaria areas. On yellow fever it says "Vaccine is not recommended," and for direct travel from the United States, "Vaccine is not required."

CDC lists dengue for Egypt, and the country's documented outbreaks have all been in Upper Egypt and on the Red Sea, from a 2016 outbreak studied by Assiut University to El-Quseir in 2017, Qena and Hurghada in 2023 and Sharm el-Sheikh in 2024. None has been documented in Cairo or Giza. A year-long survey of mosquito larvae in two Cairo districts, published in 2012, found six species and no Aedes aegypti, the main dengue mosquito. Our Egypt briefing covers the Red Sea outbreaks.

West Nile is the one to know about here. It travels on Culex pipiens, the house mosquito, which bites at night. At Ain Shams University in Cairo, researchers testing 99 adults with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, from 2018 to 2024 found West Nile infection in 8. Seven of the 8 were from Cairo, 7 were found in the summer months, and 4 had no recent travel, according to the study, published in BMC Microbiology in April 2026. The same paper cites high West Nile antibody rates in Cairo and Giza horses and donkeys in 2020–2022, though mosquitoes tested then carried no virus. For a short-stay visitor the risk is low, and the evening routine covers it.

CDC's Egypt page also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies, tick-borne diseases, Rift Valley fever and schistosomiasis, a parasite picked up in fresh water, so don't wade in the Nile or the canals.

Nile evenings, pyramid days

The Giza Plateau and Saqqara are dry desert with few biters by day, and Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili are mostly daytime visits. The bites come after dark. Nile-view hotel rooms with balcony doors, riverside terraces in Zamalek and Garden City, sunset felucca rides and Nile dinner cruises are where the house mosquito finds you, and the sound-and-light show is the one evening outing at the pyramids.

Put an EPA-registered repellent such as picaridin 20% or DEET 20–30% on before a felucca ride, a dinner cruise, the sound-and-light show or an evening on a terrace, and keep the balcony door shut with the air conditioning on at night. Our repellent timing guide shows how long a coat lasts. If you continue to Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh, switch to daytime repellent there, since the dengue mosquito bites in daylight.

When to go

October to April, the cooler main season, tends to bring fewer bites, with December to February likely the lightest. June to September is the warmest and buggiest stretch. Cairo's house mosquitoes peak in the hotter months, and 7 of the 8 West Nile cases in the Ain Shams study were found in summer. The Red Sea's autumn dengue season doesn't apply to Cairo, where no dengue transmission has been documented.

Where you're going

How the main parts of a Cairo stay compare.

Going on up the Nile? The Luxor briefing covers the cruise, the Hurghada briefing covers the Red Sea's dengue, and the Egypt briefing covers Sharm el-Sheikh and the rest of the country.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a hotel review and linked so you can read it in full. It isn't dated, and your room and whether the balcony door stays shut change the picture.

• Sofitel Cairo Nile El Gezirah

  A guest warned that if you book a Nile-view room you may find dead mosquitoes inside near the balcony, and said staff did not clean them up; the hotel replied that the comment had been passed to the department concerned. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, especially with headache, rash or confusion, and you tell the doctor you were in Egypt.

Traveler questions