Zika risk - Freaking out!!

[LittleKitty1985]

I'm 14 weeks pregnant and it just occurred to me that my DH went to
Singapore (which is high risk for zika) for work for a week about 3 weeks before we conceived, & I am freaking out! & I am so mad at myself for not researching this properly at the time as we were actively ttc, but I thought it was just me that couldn't go to these countries! Can anyone reassure me at all?

Oh no, he was also in China for a week 10 days before we conceived! This is a nightmare!

Was he bitten?
I'm sure the risk is relatively low even if he was.
Book a drs appointment on Monday. Think they can do a blood test?

Should say I'm not a doctor!

Singapore is a risk zone, I’m not sure China is at the moment.

The absolute risk to you is low - there isn’t really anything you can do at this stage to be honest. The mosquitos that carry it bite in the day and the majority of people who contract zika have no symptoms. There are blood tests but they’re not 100% but if he or you has had symptoms (rash, fever, joint pain, sore eyes) you could ask.

Only around one in ten babies exposed has issues and the chances of either of you being exposed are low - Singapore has zika present but no currently active clusters.

Thanks for the reassurance. I don't know if he was bitten, he's in China again now & I can't get in touch with him (which is of course not helping my panic!). I don't think he had symptoms. I've been researching the test but I think it only works for up to 21 days after exposure.

He travels a lot for work, should we be using condoms now in case he infects me at this stage?

Yes you should.

www.cdc.gov/zika/men/index.html#pregnant-partner

Have you had your dating scan? I don’t know how early microcephaly is clearly visible on scans but if your dating scan looked normal that’s a good sign. I would speak to your midwife and see what they advise.

Yes I had my scan on Wednesday and she commented on his healthy looking brain, however I've read that they can't really detect it via scan till the third trimester.

I've just spoke to DH and he said he didn't get bitten in Singapore and didn't go to any rural areas, he just went from hotel to meetings the whole time. Also China isn't actually on the risk list. So I feel a lot calmer now (but still a bit worried)

Hey,

I was worried about his too. Conceived just after returning from Vietnam and Cambodia where I was bitten a lot, as was my husband.

Someone on here posted saying that the risk is low - in Vietnam 1.5 million babies a year are born and there have only been a handful of microcephaly cases.

It’s not until around 30 weeks they do the scan to check though as you can’t really tell before.

I had the scan on Monday and the baby is fine....in fact the head circumference is measuring on the 95th percentile.

Try not worry too much. I had one midwife who told me off for getting pregnant within 6 months of returning....yet everyone else and another midwife told me not to worry as the risk was so low.

Googling it, I can’t find any cases of microcephaly in babies as a result of zika in Singapore in the last few years. Think of that stat in relation to how many babies have been born there over the last few years!

Try not to worry! We conceived in Mexico where I was basically a walking buffet for the mosquitos ( didn't think we could have children so no protection). When I mentioned it to midwife/go etc they all looked at me like I was mad for even bringing it up so I don't think they come across it very much. I had a consultant meeting after 20 week scan, he just said seeing as baby's head was fine all was good.

NHS will only do tests if you have symptoms, that's what we were told anyway. We paid for private tests for piece of mind as similar happened to us. The Doctor explained to us that most places in Singapore are safe and low risk however I totally understand your worry and I made myself ill thinking about it. At this stage it probably only be you that needs tested but for both of us testing was around £600.