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 trying to get info on this at the moment. My Dh is going to New Orleans in July and we are ttc. My GP says he doesn't know anything about the Zika risk. If I google it in relation to New Orleans it states that it's expected to travel there this year.

My Dh will be so disappointed if I ask him not to go so I need to make sure I have all the facts to let him know what the situation is, but no one seems to know if New Orleans is actually at risk.

For those TTC I wonder if there is the option to have a Zika test privately on your return from travel, if it was negative you'd then be good to go!

Although I suppose a private Zika test is also an option for those of us who are pregnant, if it's possible to have one and affordable too.

Never mind, it would appear Zika can only be detected by blood test when the virus is active. I was hoping you might be able to test for immunity like you can with chicken pox!
More info here: m.bma.org.uk/support-at-work/gp-practices/zika-virus-infection

Holy crap.
If the tiger mosquito can carry the virus too, then that is worrying, considering we have had tiger mozzies in our London garden since 2013!
Nasty little buggers.

In a way the fact that you have them in your London garden makes me feel better about going to France!

I wouldn't go. But then I had a stillborn baby last year and so the idea of taking any risks at all this time, however slight, when I didn't have to, baffles me. Honestly, I can't understand it. For the sake of a holiday? Not worth the risk. The UK is a low risk zone, please don't believe those saying that you're just as at risk here as there.

Oh god. We have just booked to go to Zante in August (Greece looks like it's in the moderate risk category). We were planning on TTC in the next few months. Now I'm worried about it. From the links I can't tell what the advice would be for those planning a pregnancy regarding Europe?

ppandj the advice would be, if you want to avoid the risk then either switch to go somewhere else, or delay TTC until several months after you come back.

Thanks minipie.

Does anyone have any info on the risks to the unborn baby the further on you get in your pregnancy. Ignorantly perhaps, I thought Zika was only a threat in early pregnancy.

Does this in effect mean that no one pregnant will be travelling anywhere in the world for the foreseeable future, unless it is essential?

obsessed I think the advice is pretty fast moving. from what I understand, it is in all stages of pregnancy and also in respect of ttc because the virus can hang around in your blood and bodily fluids.

Raskilnikovs err no. the UK doesn't have it and doesn't have the mosquito nor many northern European countries. only the countries on the list are confirmed and others with the potential are also named.

I guess it is making pregnant women or people ttc think a bit more about where they can /cant go or should go.

Unfortunately though I still think there are people that will just be booking a holiday and then thinking about it rather than the other way around. I feel sorry for anyone in zika areas who wasn't ttc but does and then they have a great deal of worry during what should be a lovely time.

For the record when I went to Turkey when pregnant with one of my daughters. I got bitten 80 times on the first night I was there, when the previous year they ignored me. I was in agony and spent most of the night having cold showers to try to reduce the pain and itching. I went to the chemist the next day for some antihistamine or something similar and I was told that mosquitos go for pregnant women more than normal! It certainly proved true for me.
I wouldn't travel anywhere where there was a known risk, but if there have been no known outbreaks then I would travel as normal and kept pregnancy safe mosquito repellant handy!

Where exactly in Europe does the WHO think these mosquitos might be? Which countries/regions? I would watch out on the news for any cases of Zika that were caught in Europe (not people coming back from a Zika area), until there are cases like that you are safe from Zika in Europe. However, it is also important that you feel safe. There is no point on going on holiday to Spain if you will be worried and won't be able to relax. So unless you feel safe I would just stay in the UK.

sunny there is a type of mosquito in many popular European destinations that are capable of transmitting zika. According to the map up thread they're established in Italy, large parts of Spain and southern France. They have been 'introduced' in other parts of those countries, on their way to becoming 'established'. I agree though that until there are locally transmitted cases reported it's not worth cancelling a holiday. I'm taking a wait and see approach.

www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/general-travel-health-advice/pregnant-travellers.aspx - this just says not to use more than 50% deet in pregnancy so assume up to 50% is ok

I've just ordered some 20% deet for my holiday next week

From what I read online the percentage just shows how long it works for, so a higher percentage lasts longer kind of thing

Thanks LittleLion. The map is really useful so I'll repost here for people new to the thread. It seems to be the Aedes Albopictus mosquito that they think could transmit it. Have I got that right?

Map originally posted by FunnyPerson is here European map
ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/vectors/vector-maps/Pages/VBORNET_maps.aspx

I'm not advising against caution - I think the worry you may have throughout your pregnancy is the strongest reason not to go - but it's not really that clear how dangerous the zika virus is to unborn children. The WHO have recognised that it can be a cause of microcephaly, but at the moment this seems to be rare. Most pregnant women who get zika do not have any problems. There has been a significant increase in babies born with microcephaly in north-east Brazil but the zika virus is spread throughout the country, and many other countries, and similar effects have not been seen elsewhere. There are many other reasons for an increase in microcephaly - e.g., there has been a measles outbreak in NE Brazil, and there is a massive shortage of the medication that keeps the endemic syphillis under control. The numbers of babies who may have been affected by zika is so far very small. Life is all about balancing risk - there are a huge number of environmental factors and diseases that have a small chance of impacting on the health of your baby. Zika is the one that's in the news at the moment - in no small part because of the Olympics.

I am ttc and travelling to Greece in 10 days.

There has been no cases of transmission in Europe so far. I think that cancelling travel to Europe is a bit of an overreaction. By all means take repellent, but the risk is so very small.

Pregnancy has lots of risks and I think that catching Zika in Europe is probably the least of them (at the current moment!)

Map here (showing tiger mosquito distribution as at Jan 2016)

If you can't read the key: Yellow and red are where the tiger mosquito has been found, green is monitored and the tiger mosquito has not been found, grey is unmonitored so unknown.

Does that map show greek islands as being green or grey?