QUESTION

Is malaria contagious?

ANSWER

Malaria cannot be transmitted directly between people via normal circumstances, so it is not contagious in the same way flu or the common cold is contagious. It also cannot be sexually transmitted.

In most cases, malaria can only be transmitted via the bite of an infected mosquito, so unless those mosquitoes are present, it cannot be transmitted. Because infectious stages of the parasite are present in the blood, in some cases malaria can be transmitted via blood transfusion (if the blood is not properly treated or screened), via organ transfer, or from a mother to her foetus, either via the placenta or during childbirth (this is called “congenital malaria”). However, compared to the amount of transmission which occurs via mosquito, these cases are relatively rare, and the vast majority of the time, malaria is not directly transmitted between people.