Cuba is the region's dengue hot spot this winter. Here's the stronger routine.

Cuba has had two hard years for mosquito-borne disease. Oropouche arrived in 2024, a chikungunya epidemic spread across most of the island from mid-2025, and in 2026 dengue surged far past normal. In June the health ministry warned of a possible dengue epidemic, citing garbage, sewage leaks and power outages. The same outages switch off the air-conditioning and fans that make a closed bedroom bearable. Cuba gets the highest disease-risk rating in our winter index. The response is a stricter version of the routine you would use anywhere in the Caribbean, with additions for nights without power and for the trip home.

Why Cuba stands out this winter

The clearest signal comes from the CDC. Its dengue risk page says Cuba met the agency's criteria for high transmission as of October 7, 2026, including 10 or more dengue cases among travelers in the past three months. In June, no country met those criteria. Cuba is also named on the CDC's Level 1 global dengue notice.

Florida's data point the same way. Of the 229 travel-related dengue cases with 2026 onset that the Florida Department of Health had typed in the lab by late September, 215 were acquired in Cuba. Cuba was a major source before this year too. In 2024 it accounted for 633 travel-related dengue cases across the US, about 18% of the total, according to a CDC report published in May 2026.

Cuba's Ministry of Public Health acknowledged rising dengue in late September but does not publish detailed national bulletins. Independent estimates from the Global Dengue Observatory, reported by news outlets, put 2026 cases at roughly nine times the historical average by early October, with monthly totals rising from July through September. Treat the exact figures with caution. The direction matches what the CDC and Florida see.

Chikungunya and Oropouche are still around

A large chikungunya epidemic began in July 2025 in Perico, in Matanzas province, and spread across most of the country. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) counted more than 51,000 suspected cases and 46 deaths in 2025. Cases have fallen since that peak, yet Cuba still reported 1,457 suspected cases in the first four weeks of 2026, the latest figures it has sent to PAHO. In late September 2026 the health ministry confirmed chikungunya was still circulating and named Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara and several Havana districts as the highest-incidence areas. Florida counted 53 travel-related chikungunya cases from Cuba with 2026 onset through October 10, out of 84 in the state.

The CDC removed its Level 2 chikungunya notice for Cuba in 2026, and its Cuba page now says chikungunya vaccination is generally not recommended for travelers. Bite prevention is the everyday defense.

Oropouche is the newer arrival. Cuba's first outbreak, in 2024, reached every province, with 626 confirmed and more than 23,000 suspected cases by the end of January 2025. PAHO recorded 28 lab-confirmed cases through mid-July 2025, mostly in Pinar del Río and Villa Clara, and in October 2025 Cuba declared a combined dengue, Oropouche and chikungunya outbreak. Florida has reported no travel-related Oropouche cases in 2026 through early October. The virus is spread mainly by biting midges, tiny insects that bite at dawn and dusk. They are weak fliers that a steady breeze grounds, which makes still evenings on farms, near caves and by beaches and mangroves the likely exposure.

The all-day routine

Dengue and chikungunya both travel by Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that breeds in small containers of standing water around homes and bites in daylight, with peaks after sunrise and before sunset. Repellent at night alone misses most of its hours. Our dengue & Zika daily routine has the full schedule. In Cuba, run it every day of the trip.

When the power goes out

Cuba's energy shortages mean regular power cuts, and PAHO describes a crisis situation, with the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa adding to the strain. For a traveler the problem is simple. An outage switches off the air-conditioning and fans, windows and doors get opened against the heat, and a room without screens is then open to mosquitoes.

Plan for it before you go. Ask whether your hotel or casa particular has window screens and air-conditioning. Pack a compact bed net you can hang over the bed in a room without screens, since it works whether or not the power is on. A plug-in vaporizer helps while there is electricity and does nothing during an outage. Keep repellent by the bed for nights when the windows have to stay open.

Visiting family and staying in private homes

Many Cuban-American travelers stay with relatives, usually for longer than a typical vacation, and private homes may lack screens or reliable air-conditioning. That adds up to more hours of exposure than a hotel stay. A few habits close the gap. Bring enough repellent for the whole visit. Empty buckets, plant saucers and other containers that hold standing water around the house, since that is where Aedes breeds. Sleep under a net if the bedroom has no screens. Keep the morning application going on slow days at home, when it is easiest to skip.

Where you're staying

Dengue is a national problem this year, so the differences below come mostly from chikungunya and the type of stay.

Why December still counts

Cuba's recent outbreaks have run late into the year. Most of the 2025 chikungunya cases were reported near year-end, this year's dengue estimates rose every month from July through September, and Cuba was still reporting hundreds of suspected chikungunya cases a week in January 2026. December and January trips are likely to land in the tail of the surge. February to April should be quieter, but official data are sparse and arrive late, so plan the full routine whatever month you go.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from forum threads and reviews and linked so you can read them in full. None is dated to this season, and individual trips vary with weather, wind and where you stay.

• Iberostar Selection Varadero · January (review posted) · 2022

  A guest rated the resort highly but said biting midges were the main drawback: the bites were hard to trace and welts showed up days later. They advised packing repellent and an anti-itch cream; AfterBite did nothing for them, but Polysporin Itch Relief worked. TripAdvisor ↗

• Varadero beach · dusk and early morning

  A traveler asked how to handle painful welts from sand fleas or no-see-ums. Replies recommended a strong DEET spray (one named a 30% product) before dusk and early in the morning, staying off the beach from late afternoon to mid-morning, and oily skin products such as baby oil. TripAdvisor ↗

• Havana (Centro and Habana Vieja) · winter months

  Posters said mosquitoes in Centro and Habana Vieja were few enough to be insignificant, especially in winter, and described fumigation crews coming to casas in Vieja. They warned that mosquitoes can be more of a problem outside the city. TripAdvisor ↗

Coming home, especially to Florida

Florida had 368 locally acquired dengue cases in 2026 as of October 10, most of them in Hillsborough County, plus one local chikungunya case in Miami-Dade, which was under a mosquito-borne illness alert. Local spread there can start when a returning traveler carrying the virus is bitten by a Florida mosquito, which then bites someone else. That is why Florida-based travelers should keep using repellent for three weeks after returning.

The other rule applies wherever you live. Any fever, rash or joint pain during or after the trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Cuba. That one sentence gets you the right tests quickly.

Traveler questions