Free Madeira app with a 3D map of the island, weather by place and trail statuses. See how it works

Adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the species established on Madeira's south coast
Back to Tips
Travel Tips

Mosquitoes and dengue in Madeira: risk, repellent, what to do

Madeira GuideMadeira Guide
September 8, 2026
9 min read

Madeira has the dengue mosquito, but no outbreak since 2013 and no local case so far in 2026. Where it bites, which repellent works, what to do with a fever.

Madeira has the mosquito that carries dengue, and it has had one real outbreak, in the winter of 2012 to 2013. Since then the island has recorded two locally acquired cases, both in January 2025, in one household in Funchal. As of mid-October 2026, the ECDC's weekly dengue report lists no locally acquired case in Portugal this year, and that count includes Madeira. For most visitors it means: pack a repellent, use it in Funchal on warm days, and get on with the holiday. No vaccine is recommended for a trip to Madeira, and there are no tablets to take. In the mountains and along most of the north coast, where the walking happens, the mosquito has never established itself.

What happened, in short

Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, was identified in Funchal in 2005 by the city's Natural History Museum. It was found in the parish of Santa Luzia, after residents there kept describing itching and skin bumps they put down to a mosquito. Genetic studies later traced the insect to South America, most probably Venezuela. By 2008 it had reached Santa Cruz to the east, and by 2012 Paúl do Mar in the far west.

On 3 October 2012 the first two locally acquired dengue cases were reported. The outbreak ran until March 2013 and ended with 2,168 probable and 1,080 laboratory-confirmed cases, centred on Funchal, plus 81 cases in travellers who fell ill after returning to continental Europe. The virus was dengue type 1, closely related to strains circulating in Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia at the time. It was the island's first dengue outbreak, and by IASAÚDE's account the first anywhere in Europe since 1928.

Between 2013 and 2024 the island saw imported cases in returning travellers but no local transmission. Then in January 2025 two people from one household in Funchal, in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, developed dengue without having left the island. A trap near their home had caught mosquitoes carrying dengue type 2 in the third week of January; mosquitoes trapped from 27 January onward tested negative. The national health institute INSA confirmed the two cases, and the regional government announced them on 18 February 2025. No further cases followed. The ECDC's April 2026 distribution map still lists Aedes aegypti as established on Madeira, alongside Cyprus and the French overseas regions.

Where the mosquito lives, and where it does not

This is an urban mosquito. It lays its eggs in clean standing water with a little organic matter in it, and IASAÚDE's page on breeding sites points out that a bottle cap or an eggshell is enough. It has been recorded in every municipality on the south coast, with dense populations in Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Santa Cruz, Ponta do Sol and Calheta. That is the same strip where the hotels are.

About 90 percent of Madeira lies above 500 metres, and a 2022 habitat model for the island found suitable conditions mainly in the warm, densely built coastal areas, with only a few small isolated patches on the north coast. The trap network has picked the mosquito up once in Porto Moniz, on the north coast, and it did not stay. So the levada walks, the Paul da Serra plateau, Pico do Arieiro and the villages of the north are, in practice, outside its range.

The tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which reached mainland Portugal in 2017, has not been reported from the island. Madeira's problem species is Aedes aegypti alone.

When it bites

Activity is seasonal. Egg-trap data from Funchal show one long peak from around June to early December and little or no activity from January to May, and trap catches climb once temperatures pass 21 degrees. In 2024 the island's egg traps averaged 19.5 eggs per trap per week; from January to July 2025 the figure was 1.9. Check the monthly weather for your dates: a February trip and a September trip are different propositions.

Unlike the mosquitoes most Europeans know, this one bites during the day. IASAÚDE's page on its behaviour puts the peaks in the early morning and the hours before dusk, and describes an insect that approaches from behind and goes for ankles and elbows. A hotel pool in Funchal at five in the afternoon in September is where you are most likely to meet it. Late evenings carry less risk, though the same page notes it can bite at night too.

Mosquito control: the surveillance programme

Madeira has been watching this mosquito since 2005. IASAÚDE and the Natural History Museum of Funchal run a network of egg traps across every municipality of the archipelago, read weekly: 181 traps in 2024 and 177 in 2025, including traps at the airport and the ports of Funchal and Caniçal, plus adult traps, 24 of them in 2023. When the 2025 cases appeared, this network found the infected mosquitoes within days and then showed that transmission had stopped. The entomological panels are published on mosquitoaedes.madeira.gov.pt. The control itself is mostly about breeding sites: IASAÚDE asks residents and visitors to empty or cover anything that holds standing water, since the larvae need nothing more.

What to pack and what to do

Most of what follows comes from IASAÚDE's multilingual leaflet for visitors, with the ECDC and WHO position where they add something.

On repellent the leaflet is blunt: products containing DEET are the most effective. The ECDC and WHO list DEET, icaridin and IR3535. Concentration matters more than quantity. IASAÚDE's own figures are that a 20 percent DEET product protects for almost four hours and a 23.8 percent product for about five, and that using more per application buys nothing, so reapply according to the label instead. The US CDC's Madeira page suggests DEET at 20 percent or above. For children, IASAÚDE says no repellent at all on newborns, use a net, and from the age of two icaridin at 20 to 30 percent or IR3535 at 20 to 35 percent, in a cream or gel rather than a spray.

Clothes should be light-coloured and loose, covering as much skin as you can bear in the heat, with shoes rather than sandals; if you wear sandals, the leaflet suggests socks. This is the same logic as packing for the coast, so it costs nothing extra, and the month-by-month packing list covers the rest.

Where you sleep matters more than most people expect. The leaflet tells visitors to stay in an enclosed room with air conditioning, and IASAÚDE's prevention page says screens on windows and doors with a 1.2 mm mesh are the most effective way to keep mosquitoes out of a house. Ask before booking, especially for apartments and villas. If you rent somewhere with a garden or terrace, empty plant saucers and anything else holding water, especially after rain. If you would rather sleep above the city, Madeira with Views lists apartments in the Funchal hills; ask the host about screens and air conditioning as you would anywhere on the south coast.

There is no prophylaxis to take. A dengue vaccine, Qdenga, exists, but the WHO recommends it only for children aged 6 to 16 in high-transmission settings, the UK's NaTHNaC says vaccination is not recommended for Madeira, and Germany's STIKO recommends it only for people who have already had a laboratory-confirmed dengue infection. The German Foreign Office lists it for long stays or unusual exposure and says to talk to a travel doctor. For a normal holiday, none of them suggests it.

If you are bitten and get a fever

A bite by itself needs nothing. Dengue symptoms start 4 to 10 days after an infected bite, according to the WHO: sudden high fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea, sometimes a rash. IASAÚDE asks visitors to stay alert for these during the stay and for 21 days after going home.

If it happens on the island, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24, Portugal's health line, which is staffed around the clock for clinical calls; in an emergency dial 112. The main hospital is Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, Avenida Luís de Camões 57, Funchal, telephone 291 705 600, with an adult emergency department open 24 hours. Take paracetamol for fever and pain, and do not take aspirin or ibuprofen: both the WHO and IASAÚDE rule out anti-inflammatories, and the WHO's reason is that they raise the risk of bleeding. Severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding gums or nose, or rapid breathing are the WHO's warning signs for severe dengue and mean the hospital, not the pharmacy. If you fall ill after you get home, tell the doctor you were in Madeira. Our safety and incidents page has the other numbers worth saving. For health centres, pharmacies and what a consultation costs, see healthcare in Madeira.

Quick answers

Is there dengue in Madeira? The mosquito that carries it is established on the south coast. There was one outbreak, October 2012 to March 2013, and two locally acquired cases in January 2025. Nothing since, and the ECDC's weekly report shows no local case in Portugal so far in 2026. Imported cases in travellers turn up from time to time.

Do I need a dengue vaccine for Madeira? No. The WHO, the UK's NaTHNaC and Germany's STIKO do not recommend it for a holiday there, and there is no prophylaxis for dengue.

Which repellent should I pack? DEET at 20 percent or more for adults, which IASAÚDE rates at almost four hours per application, or icaridin. For children from two years, IASAÚDE suggests icaridin 20 to 30 percent or IR3535 20 to 35 percent. Nothing on newborns; use a net.

Are there mosquitoes on the levadas and in the north? Aedes aegypti is established in the south-coast municipalities only. The traps picked it up once in Porto Moniz in the north and it did not stay. Nine tenths of the island is above 500 metres, where the habitat model finds conditions unsuitable, so the mountains and most of the north are effectively free of it.

Are there many mosquitoes in Madeira in September? September is in the season. Egg traps in Funchal show activity from around June to early December, and catches rise once temperatures pass 21 degrees. This mosquito bites by day, mostly in the early morning and before dusk, so use repellent on the south coast, especially in Funchal.

Sources

Madeira Guide

Madeira Guide

Author

More Travel Tips

Old laurel trees in the mist on the Fanal plateau, Madeira, one of the island's 21 forest camping zones
Oct 25, 20268 min read

Camping in Madeira: the permit, the 21 forest areas and the only campsite

You may camp on Madeira in 21 named forest clearings and at one official campsite, and nowhere else. What the IFCN licence costs and how to apply for it, what the Porto Moniz campsite charges per person and per tent, the altitude of each zone, the bus numbers that changed in March 2026, and the rules for campervans.

A wicker toboggan with two carreiros in white on the back runners, descending the narrow road from Monte towards Livramento above Funchal
Oct 21, 20268 min read

The Monte toboggan: what it costs, and where it actually drops you

The wicker toboggan down from Monte costs 30 euros for one, 40 for two and 60 for three, runs Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00, and takes no bookings of any kind. The part that catches people out is the finish: it stops at Livramento, above Funchal, leaving you a twenty to thirty minute walk, a line 020 bus or a taxi you should price first. The cable car and bus fares up, what closes the run, what the accident record actually shows, and whether ten minutes is worth the money.

The Capela de São Vicente do Calhau, a small white chapel built on a single block of black basalt at the mouth of the São Vicente river on Madeira's north coast
Oct 19, 20269 min read

Grutas de São Vicente are closed: what still works in São Vicente

Madeira's lava caves at São Vicente have been shut since March 2020, and the council confirms the Volcanism Centre is closed too. What the valley still offers: the 07:35 bus from Funchal, three classified trails that are open, the basalt chapel at the river mouth, and the black sand at Seixal ten minutes west.

View All Tips