mosquitoes

Central America and Costa Rica in particular, is an incredible place to travel! You can experience new cultures, explore rain forests or snorkel in...

The World Health Organization endorsed the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine for children, the first against the mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 400,000 a year. 

Dengue is most commonly caught by people traveling to hotter climates such as Costa Rica.

A WHO analysis published in 2016 named Costa Rica among 21 countries with the potential to eliminate malaria by 2020. 

Costa Rica had no malaria cases between 2012 and 2015, but this year has reported nine cases.

Researchers said Thursday they have found a way to fashion a cheap mosquito trap out of old tires that can collect thousands of eggs that may carry the Zika virus.

In El Salvador, the number of new Zika cases has fallen from more than 1,000 a week in early January to fewer than 100 per week in March. In Honduras, it's fallen from more than 2,000 cases weekly in early February to fewer than 700 a week.

The study was done in the United States, where dengue does not circulate in the population. This helped researchers identify the vaccine's effectiveness in people who had not been previously exposed to any strain of dengue.

Costa Rican health officials this week reported the two latest confirmed cases of Zika virus, contracted by a man and woman who recently traveled to Nicaragua. They bring the total number of confirmed cases in Costa Rica to 12.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday asked Congress to set aside $1.9 billion to respond to the Zika virus abroad and to prepare for it in the United States, saying the funds are necessary to halt the spread of the disease and "protect the health and safety of Americans."