Mayotte had its biggest malaria year since 2010. The CDC's advice covers the whole island.

Are there mosquitoes in Mayotte? Yes, and 2026 has been a hard year for the diseases they carry. Malaria cases hit their highest since 2010, with local spread in the south and east, and the CDC, which recommends malaria medicine for the whole island, issued a Level 2 travel notice. Chikungunya also ran epidemics in 2025 and early 2026, so the routine covers daytime and nighttime biters.

Malaria: a record year

Santé publique France, the French national public health agency, counted 370 confirmed malaria cases in Mayotte by week 40 (to October 4, 2026), the most since 2010. Most, 270, were imported, mainly from the Comoros. Another 79 were acquired on the island, and nearly all of those were in three communes in the south and east: Dembéni, Bandrélé and Chirongui. Mamoudzou had one by the end of August. Local transmission picked up from May and has since eased, with no locally acquired case in the six weeks to early October. Every 2026 case was Plasmodium falciparum, the more dangerous species.

Malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk to dawn. Cover up and use repellent from sunset, and sleep under a net or in a screened, air-conditioned room, especially if you're staying or eating out in the south.

Chikungunya and dengue

Mayotte's daytime biter is the tiger mosquito, an Aedes species with peaks in the morning and late afternoon. It spread chikungunya two years running. Santé publique France counted 1,266 confirmed cases in 2025, when Mamoudzou and Petite-Terre were the first hot spots, and 1,396 by mid-July 2026, with weekly cases peaking in mid-April and fading by July. Dengue stayed sporadic, with 13 cases in 2026 by the end of August. The CDC says chikungunya vaccination is generally not recommended for Mayotte. Repellent over sunscreen in the morning, again after swims and dives, and again before sunset covers the daytime hours. Our dengue & Zika routine has the full schedule.

Away from insects, the CDC lists leptospirosis for Mayotte, a reason to avoid wading in fresh water, mud and floodwater, and it recommends hepatitis A vaccine for unvaccinated travelers.

When to go

The rains, roughly November to April, drive transmission, and Santé publique France says tiger mosquito numbers fall in the dry season. August to October was the quietest stretch in both 2025 and 2026, with little chikungunya or dengue and no locally acquired malaria from late August to early October 2026. January to July is when both chikungunya epidemics ran, and local malaria peaked from May to July 2026. Imported malaria turns up all year, and the CDC's advice applies in every month.

Where you're going

Combining Mayotte with Réunion or Madagascar? The CDC lists no malaria medicine for Réunion, as our Réunion briefing explains, and our Madagascar briefing covers a country where the malaria advice reaches every stop outside the capital.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a TripAdvisor review and linked so you can read it in full. It isn't dated, and bite levels change with the season and where you stay.

• Le Moana restaurant, Mamoudzou

  A diner found the chairs uncomfortable but the terrace's summery atmosphere made up for it, and warned others to watch out for mosquitoes. TripAdvisor ↗

One more rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Mayotte. Malaria can show up weeks after you get home.

Traveler questions