Worried about Zika virus

[Pregnant1987]

We recently went on holiday to Mexico and didn’t research the risk of Zika virus. I have now found out that I conceived when we were there and am panicking about the effects of Zika. I am considering getting a termination as I’m not sure I can cope with the anxiety over the next 8 months of worrying if I may have contracted it and passed onto the baby. But the thought of that fills me with dread. Does anyone have any advice or similar experiences?

I'm pretty sure you can get a Zika test done privately? Just do that to ease your mind.

But please don't terminate based on this, you're having an overreaction and are catastrophising! They had 20 cases of Zika in ALL of Mexico in 2020 and it had been going down year on year so the odds of you not only being bitten by a mosquito but by a mosquito carrying Zika, that then actively also transmitted Zika to you is so so ridiculously low.

Also if you're worried about anencephaly it would be visible in the 12 week scan already and you could terminate then if you wanted to - don't think you have to wait for a surprise at birth!

I lived in Singapore when pregnant and Zika was a big issue at the time. I generally did a good job at avoiding the mosquito bites but I did get one, had a zika test and got the all clear.

I’m sure you can have a zika test done here? I think even with an infection the risk is minimal. There were several pregnant women infected in Singapore and their babies were fine.

What did you decide to do in the end? Do you live in the UK? If so have you spoken to your GP/midwife? What do they think?