to be ttc and worried due to conflicting reports on Zika

[Summerblaze100]

I must confess that I am not someone who routinely listens to the news but the things I was hearing at first was that it was an outbreak in some countries such as Brazil and that if you were pg/planning to be pg then advice was to change your holiday plans.

I am ttc at the moment but not planning to leave the uk this year so figured I was safe as the type of mosquito couldn't survive in our climate.

Now I am hearing things like global pandemic, people may get it here, transmission. Advice on some sites is to not to ttc. Is that here or there. I am so confused and the more I read, the more confused I get.

I am a worrier anyway and am worse when ttc/pg.

[outputgap]

Well, everything we currently know suggests you are at no risk whatsoever.

Even if it becomes sexually transmitted, presumably neither you nor dh will be shagging about while ttc.

We don't get the right mosquitos. Plus, have you ever been bitten by a mosquito in the UK? No, me neither.

But it is a story being covered and presented in a very anxiety-inducing way. There was a good series ages ago on BBC 2 about the 24 news culture and how it relies on and stokes up anxiety. This is a classic example I think. Which is not to underplay at all the tragedy of the babies disabled by the virus. I'm currently pregnant and said to dh the other night that while I'm not actually slightly worried about any personal risk from zika, I'm finding the news anxiety-inducing, and that is bonkers really. I should be finding it sad and concerning.

[notquitehuman]

It's natural to be worried. But you're unlikely to catch a virus like Zika in the UK. Besides, there's always something to worry about. Remember swine flu? My SIL was pregnant during that thing and it absolutely freaked her out. If you put of TTC until all potential viruses are eliminated then you'll be waiting a long time.

[Madeyemoodysmum]

As the other poster said you are at no risk of your dh and you are not having casual sex and if you were the risk would still at the moment be minuscule. All the cases out of the actual mosicuito area have been sexually transmitted. No need to worry.

[WombOfOnesOwn]

All evidence so far is that Zika very rarely causes anything worse than flu-like symptoms in anyone but fetuses. What's more, once you have contracted it once, you can no longer have a new infection that is transmissible to a fetus. Even in the worst case for this virus, the solution will likely be for women to attempt to intentionally get Zika prior to TTC so that they could not be reinfected while TTC or pregnant.

The odds you'd be the FIRST WOMAN IN THE UK to come down with this are so minimal as to be silly to even consider. You're more likely to get struck by lightning while you're pregnant. You're FAR more likely to have microencephaly strike totally at random from a mutation or environmental teratogen than to have UK mosquitos (which aren't the right kind!) transmit the virus to you at exactly the right time to cause this pregnancy complication.

[Summerblaze100]

Thanks ladies.

In my rational mind, I thought that was the case but you are right Output, the news is just so

[Summerblaze100]

negative that I get this overwhelming anxiety.

So it's only sexually transmitted outside of the infected mosquito area. I'll be ok in that case.

[tomatodizzy]

I live in Brazil, I know a couple of people who are pregnant. They are naturally worried and are taking precautions obviously but there is not much else to do. The hype I am reading online in the British media is a joke! You're fine.