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?

Sorry it's a bit titchy isn't it. As far as I can tell, the ones to the west of greece (Ionan islands??) are red. The ones to the east of Greece are mixture of green and grey.

Hang on though, I will go back and get the high resolution version.

Can't get a better picture but here is the link to the map. Note that this link shows the Aegyptia mosquito as default - you have to use the dropdown menu to select the Albopictus option to get the tiger mosquito map. If you download the high resolution version you can then zoom in.

ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/vectors/vector-maps/Pages/VBORNET_maps.aspx

It looks like the Cyclades are green but Dodecanese and Sporades are grey. Crete is a mix of green and grey. Ionans are red.

I'm 22 weeks pregnant and am thinking about going away at the end of June. I'm planning to avoid any areas which have the tiger mosquito - considering one of the Canary Islands at the moment.

Thanks Mini appreciate it

Excuse the name... Had it for YEARS before the stupid mozzie virus!

I am 24 wks and going to france and italy next week. I've decided the risk is so low (no existing cases) that it's ok. I will be wearing deet for the first time, as I'm always bitten with natural stuff. Consultant has said it's fine. It is a bit of a worry, but must be worse for people living there in early stages of pg I suppose.

zeeka yes of course it is worse for people living with this - and all the other nasty diseases that are mosquito, food and water borne that are widespread in other countries.

the issue is would you knowingly put yourself from a no risk area to a low risk area when either pregnant or ttc. personally I wouldn't. its not worth the worry to have a holiday somewhere abroad. I would sooner stay in the uk and it be a bit colder and a bit wetter than have the worry.

its not an over reaction because the fear of something is horrible. I have also had a child with heart disease so know how much you blame yourself for these things.

Well I guess it's like any other risk you might in pregnancy - eating rare meat, uncooked eggs, taking certain medications, riding a bike, lifting something heavy ... you weigh up the chances and severity of the potential damage against how much you want or need to take that risk. Each person's view will be different. And that's fine as long as everyone is taking an informed view.

I see your point, and it's a good one, I agree. But I am going. I've weighed up the risks, spoken to the consultant and decided it's the right decision. I have bought 50% deet spray and will be covered in it, plus eating inside in the evening, avoiding the lawn, etc.

Sunnysunnysummertime - the problem is that you are NOT safe until you start to hear stories of locally transmitted Zika.

When I was in Barbados, there was no Zika, apparently.

I was bitten 2 days before leaving. On return to the UK, I read an article, dated the day after I was bitten saying that on that day they had confirmation that 3 people had Zika on the island. 80% of people with Zika have no symptoms, of the 20% who have symptoms, most are mild and they would never go to the doctors let alone be tested.

This means that a minimum of 15 people on the island were infected at the time that the test was taken. That test was taken 2 weeks before the results were announced as it takes this long to get confirmation. Incubation time is 5-10 days. This means that 3-4 weeks BEFORE I got bitten, 15 people on the island minimum were infected.

The results which came out later - which gave an indication of how many were infected whilst I was there indicated numbers in the low thousands. Remember - this was at a time when the government were still able to say that the country was Zika free.

The WHO recently announced that 25-30% of infected mothers to be will give birth to a baby with a defect, not always microcephaly but almost always involving brain defects.

Without wanting to scaremonger, you cannot wait until locally transmitted cases are reported. Zika will be in the country for 3-4 weeks before it is confirmed and reported. As others have said - it's a personal choice and the risk is low with potentially high consequences.

Does anyone know how likely the tiger mosquito is to transmit Zika? As that seems the biggest risk at the moment?

It might be helpful to know that that map of where the tiger mosquito has been found does not translate into the country risk classification published by the WHO. For actual risk assessments country by country, you need to read their report. The UK is not in the no risk zone and some of the countries where the tiger mosquito has been found are in the same risk zone as the UK.

I have not seen that 25-30% figure, I don't think anyone is that certain yet. There has been a lot of discussion about why a particular area of Brazil seems to be having more of a problem with Zika related birth defects and other areas aren't reporting an increase. There are theories that there might be related infections in that area which increase the risk, or it could even be underreported elsewhere.

No one has clear answers to this stuff at the minute. I've been bitten by mosquitoes three times this week. The bastards. I think it's unlikely that the Netherlands, or indeed anywhere in mainland Europe, has unreported native Zika transmission less than a week into mosquito season.

If a mother is affected by Zika, the figure at present stands at 20% for visible birth defects according to one study, with Microcephaly at 13%.

Independent article here

Another article cites 29% of babies with 'grave complications' including microcephaly.

Washington Post article here

Yesterday it was released that eye defects (not visible at birth) could be as high as 30%. Sounds like 25-30% is in the right area from what is known at present.

So would north Europe be a better option for a holiday in terms of reducing the risk? Maybe Germany or Poland? They are both hot in summer and surely have mosquitos but the map suggests they are much less likely to have the tiger mosquito than Spain or Italy?

I agree that everyone needs the information so that they can make an informed choice. however, there are still posters on MN who have no idea about the Zika virus, TTC and pregnancy. its been all over the news. if people haven't heard about it when it is so widely reported and widely shared on here and other forums then do you think that they are able to make the kind of informed choice that is necessary?

Making sure you cover yourself in deet regularly sounds like a good idea - in theory. Zeeka, how long before you have to reapply your 50% deet spray? is its effectiveness proportional to the heat/humidity? can you be certain of 100% coverage?

we went on holiday to Belize. I am a mozzie magnet so I got 100% deet and sprayed myself, my clothes everything. I even put some on my hands and wiped around my face. But, and this is the big but, I didn't take off my glasses. so guess what? the mozzies bit me along where the arm of my glasses goes towards my ears.

It is your risk and it is up to you but honestly nothing is 100% , nowhere near it.

It's really hard but i dont think your being unreasonable, i was lucky in that i could change my destination free of charge to one with no Zika threat. Is there any chance you could look to go elsewhere?

Should also have said i too get bitten very badly and still got bitten while using DEET, i'm very glad i switched destinations based on that as i would have been extremely worried had i gone on the original holiday. I think it's riskier in the first trimester but that it can cause problems later on too, not 100% sure though

sunny, Germany is in the same risk category as the UK (low) and Poland is the category below (very low). The WHO assessment takes into account more than tiger mosquito presence, so is more reliable. For example, areas of the Netherlands are marked as having the tiger mosquito on that map, but the NL risk is also categorised as low. And some of the areas where the mosquito is present in NL are on the German border, so it seems unlikely they wouldn't move across the border.