Tunisia has no malaria. Late-summer nights bring West Nile and sand flies.

Are there mosquitoes in Tunisia? Yes, mostly from late spring to autumn, but there's no malaria. The CDC recommends no malaria medicine or yellow fever vaccine, and Tunisia is on WHO's list of malaria-free countries. The bites to plan for come at night in late summer, when West Nile virus circulates on the coast and sand flies spread cutaneous leishmaniasis in the center and south.

West Nile on the coast, August to November

West Nile virus causes recurring outbreaks of meningitis and encephalitis in Tunisia, mainly in late summer and autumn. The CDC's Tunisia page doesn't list it, but researchers have recorded human outbreaks in 1997, 2003, 2012, 2018 and 2023. The Sousse and Monastir governorates, home to the Sousse, Port El Kantaoui and Monastir resorts, have had four outbreaks and are considered high-risk areas. In 2023 the national disease observatory reported 10 confirmed cases between September 23 and October 26, five of them in Tozeur, according to press reports, and in 2025 Tunisian press reported two West Nile deaths in Zaghouan governorate.

The carriers are Culex mosquitoes, which bite mostly in the evening and at night. On the coast from August to November, put repellent on before dinner outdoors, keep balcony doors closed and run a plug-in device in the room. Fever with a severe headache or a stiff neck after a late-summer trip is a reason to see a doctor, and mention where you stayed.

Sand flies inland, and the tiger mosquito in Tunis

Phlebotomine sand flies bite from dusk to dawn and spread leishmaniasis, which the CDC lists for Tunisia. The skin form, cutaneous leishmaniasis, causes thousands of cases a year in central and southern Tunisia, and Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid and Gafsa hold 87% of the population at risk. In a 2026 Eurosurveillance report, Toulouse University Hospital in France described 28 infections diagnosed between October 2025 and May 2026, against no more than three a year in 2019–2024. Twenty-four of the patients had traveled to Tunisia, and all 19 with detailed itineraries had stayed in Sidi Bouzid governorate, mostly visiting friends and relatives in rural areas. Nineteen of the 24 were there in July or August 2025.

On summer and autumn nights in rural central Tunisia and at the Sahara oases around Douz and Tozeur, wear long sleeves and pants after dark, put repellent on exposed skin and sleep in a screened or air-conditioned room or under a net. A day trip from Sousse to Kairouan falls outside sand fly hours. A skin sore that doesn't heal in the weeks or months after the trip is a reason to see a doctor.

On the north coast, the day-biting tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, was first found around Carthage, has spread through several Tunis districts and to Bizerte, and reached Sousse by 2023. Researchers note that in Tunisia it "has not yet been implicated in disease transmission," and the CDC lists no dengue, chikungunya or Zika. It bites by day, so a morning coat of repellent helps in the gardens of Carthage and Sidi Bou Said in summer. The CDC also lists schistosomiasis, so skip wading or swimming in fresh water.

When to go

December to March is the lightest stretch, when sand flies are inactive and mosquitoes are few. July to October is the worst, with sand flies active inland and in the Sahara oases and mosquito-heavy evenings at some Hammamet resorts. West Nile season on the coast runs mostly from August to November.

Where you're going

For Djerba, the nearest recent figures come from Gabès, on the mainland, which had 2 of the 10 confirmed West Nile cases in 2023. Combining Tunisia with Morocco, Malta or Italy? Those briefings cover the next stop.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor threads and reviews and linked so you can read them in full. None is dated, and bites in Tunisia change a lot with the month and the hotel.

• Tunisia (resort not named) · early February

  A returning traveler said their party of four was bitten a few times, not badly but enough to irritate, and advised bringing repellent; another reply said mosquitoes are highly unlikely to be a problem in February. TripAdvisor ↗

• Iberostar Waves Averroes, Yasmine Hammamet

  A guest titled their review 'Mosquito Hell!' and described hundreds of mosquitoes indoors, especially in the lobby bar and toilets; the hotel replied that it has an infestation treatment plan in place. The review appears to date from the early 2010s. TripAdvisor ↗

• Tozeur (two-day Sahara tour)

  A reviewer on a two-day Sahara tour said mosquitoes bit them throughout an in-town oasis carriage ride in Tozeur, so they would not repeat it, and found many dead mosquitoes on the walls of their Tozeur hotel. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Tunisia and where you stayed.

Traveler questions