Eli5: Why is there no malaria in Italy despite having so many mosquitos

Question

I’m in Italy currently and did not need to take any malaria tablets to come here. However I’m being assaulted by mosquitoes since coming here and after Googling I found malaria was eradicated in the 1960’s but can’t find out how exactly

In: 10

Answer 1

Malaria is a parasite that mosquitos transmit but it requires human hosts. If none of the humans in an area have malaria then mosquitos will not transmit it because they will not be infected with it.

So malaria eradication campaigns generally work/worked by reducing mosquito populations temporarily (killing infected mosquitos with pesticides) while diagnosing and curing people with malaria. The mosquito population comes back but they no longer carry malaria. Italy, like the US and other developed countries had large eradication campaigns that eliminated malaria from the region. Then health departments monitor and treat cases to prevent it from returning.