WIBU to not go on holiday due to pregnancy and Zika virus

[PinkyOfPie]

Due to go to Spain on a large family holiday in July for 10 days. I'll be around 4 months pregnant.

According to WHO there have been no Zika virus outbreaks in Europe yet, but according to various sources it is expected in the summer once "mosquito season" starts. Mosquitoes flock to me like a magnet usually, I must have tasty blood, and I'm nervous about going. I would send DH and 3yo DD on their own and stay here, but it would break my heart to do so (what on earth would I actually do for 10 days?!). On the other hand, it's a bit of a risk to take for Bump.

My mum said she'd come up for 10 days and keep me company and have trips away in UK etc, but it's not the same as being with my DH and DD.

AIBU and hysterical to consider staying at home?

I'm totally not trying to scaremonger you guys. I really hope you have an amazing holiday and that zika doesn't come anywhere near Europe. I would just hate for anyone to have gone through what we've been through the last 5 months.

DEET yourselves up and avoid outside at dawn and dusk.

Why is Spain deemed risky? Have there been locally transmitted cases reported? What about other popular destinations like Italy and France? I'll be 26 weeks when we're heading to Western France in August but tbh hadn't even heard about or considered zika as a threat until I read this thread. I'm not one to knee jerk and prefer to know the facts than get carried away with the media, but I can't assess what kind of risk there might be to my unborn child in that part of France. Is it considered low or moderate risk? Sorry for all the questions!

France as a whole is considered moderate risk, there is a really useful map on one of the links above that shows where different types of mosquitos are, the transmitters and the May-become-transmitters. You could look on there and see which, if any are where you're going.

Having discussed it at length with DH, at the moment we are continuing with our plans. It's a risk, but with the current situation the risk, for me, seems very small. I have also discussed it at length with my friend who is a travel nurse. I will obviously keep research and keep an eye on the situation. I almost wish we were going next week, and not next month, because I expect the risks to increase as the summer progresses.

Mango that is what I keep telling myself, if I had booked for July or August TBH I would be trying to cancel or change destination

I hope it doesn't spread to the EU at all and wish any worried ladies on here a happy safe holiday

I can't really cancel or ask for a change of destination as we're staying at a family house and then on a family holiday in a villa!

The worry about Spain is that scientists think that the Aedes albopictus mosquito (tiger mosquito) may be able to carry the virus too. That strain is common in Spain.

Lots of posters have outlined the reasons for the increase in worry about the spread across Europe.

For me the risk of the awful consequences of this would far and away outweigh the pleasure of a few days away.

Nice one Susan. Only wish myself and the thousands of women either waiting for a diagnosis or who have had a baby affected by zika could find it as amusing as you.

The fear is for someone's unborn child. It's a very real fear for some people, it's not scaremongering and it's definitely not funny.

I agree scooby

Agree scooby, clearly Susan hasn't a clue about the impact of zika in pregnancy

susanketty - this may be AIBU but that is still a really unhelpful response. If you mean it seriously then you have no understanding of the virus, its vectors, limitations and risk, if you mean it sarcastically you also have no understanding of the virus and its vectors, limitations and risks.

This is really bothering me right now too- we just booked a holiday to Madeira for first week of July and yesterday I heard about the Zika risk there because of the type of mosquito.
We have literally just started ttc again after a 3 month break (I had a miscarriage last July and had been trying since Sept with no luck and getting really stressed and upset about it, particularly as most of my office is pregnant).
Now I don't know what to do about the holiday. We are going to stop ttc until after but I guess it would need to be several months after our return due to risk of sexual transmission from DP?
I'm thinking we will have to swallow the loss of the money, I'm gutted, this is our first holiday booked for 5 years ! And the money will be a big loss for us :-(

How did you book Should? Could you ask for a change of destination. You may find getting your money back easier than for say, Spain, as Madeira is on high alert and has the "right" type of mosquito.

We booked flights directly with the airline, the villa belongs to a work mate of DP so no issue there.

Thing I don't know if I'm pregnant (too early to test) so surely they won't refund as they can just say wait to try to ttc ? Am pretty sure it said they were non refundable anyway.

So bloody annoying, I literally only booked it all last week and it didn't wvwn cross my mind to think about sodding Zika!

I spoke to ryanair yesterday they said they can change flights up to four hours before departure although there is a fee

Perhaps try your airline

My problem is the hotel aren't going to dp anything at such short notice

The issue about Zika isn't the risk - which in some areas will be very small. Its the months of worry that you have it, or that your DH has it and might pass it on and all those other unknowns.

At the end of the day its just a holiday. You don't have to travel. No one does it is a choice. Harder if you have saved up for it for a long time, or its a big family thing but it is 1 or 2 weeks only, that's all.

There are plenty of places in the world where there are no mosquitos and no Zika so just travel there instead if you have to.

as for susanketty what a ridiculous post on such a serious subject. I have a child with heart disease and its a lifetime of worry. If I had thought for one minute it had been down to something I had caught on holiday - a choice to go away - then I would be gutted.

Going to have to see how it goes I think. DP is pretty determined we should still go and ttc will just have to wait.

Shouldwebeworried some people contract Zika and don't know they have had it. there is advice about sexual transmission and how long it stays active. I think I read somewhere that you should wait 6 months after being in a Zika area before ttc. Most important thing is to keep up to date with all of the advice on this as it is changing quite quickly.

Spain is at moderate risk that at some point in the future there will be locally transmitted cases of zika. There have been none at the minute. There is no indication that this will be the year that happens. Spain is also a well developed European country with the ability to fund large scale spraying programmes should the local risk increase. The UK is only one risk category lower than Spain. Most of the EU is in the same category as the UK, so a decision not to travel to the EU this summer is bizarre, because in most places the risk is the same as staying at home.

I suggest anyone with concerns reads the WHO report and the FCO guidelines. Your risk of getting run over on the way to the airport is probably higher than that of contracting zika in most of Europe this summer.

The WHO have indicated that there is a moderate risk this summer of it spreading to France and Spain.

'Only' one category above the UK puts it into the moderate category which means there is a possibility of it being there and as stated other posts - you quite possibly wouldn't know until you had been whether it was there or not.

You can catastrophise the situation but you can also minimise it - both are pretty dangerous things to do.

You could get run over on the way to the airport but you could also avoid this by taking adequate precautions. After my experience, adequate precautions would mean avoiding any country where it's a possibility.

Avoiding any country where there's any risk would involve moving to Iceland or similar, since the UK isn't in the no risk category. It's scary when something risky happens to you, but there's no point hyping the risk to other people, particularly since there are plenty of Mumsnetters living in France and Spain already.

I got a tick bite a few weeks ago, which was a bit scary because of the associated risks. But I'm not going to suggest everyone avoids wooded areas, long grass and the countryside in general. Partly because it happened at home, in my own shower, after my DH had just had a shower after a forest run. It's impossible to remove risk from life, the only thing to do is listen to sensible expert advice and act accordingly.

Umm, tick bite/zika.

Bit different?

I don't see any hype here, particularly as the warnings come from the WHO.

Expert advice says moderate risk of Zika in France and Spain...

I do think it's worth clarifying that at the moment the WHO is warning that there is a moderate risk of Zika coming to France/Spain, not a moderate risk of catching Zoka in France/Spain.

I agree with the poster who said minimising and catatraphisin gate both unhelpful in this situation.

Having others perspectives on this is very useful.

Solomon I'm sorry but you're wrong. Go back and read what WHO said... And then read what the science is behind Zika

Zoka = Zika
Catastrophising ended up coming out a bit weird too.