Pregnancy and Zika

[MooChops89]

I'm looking to go on holiday in January and am really struggling to find somewhere with nice weather that isn't affected by Zika virus (currently 14 weeks pregnant).
I went to Mexico in January this year and loved it so much that I can't get excited about going anywhere else!
Friends of mine travelled to Mexico last year at 4 months pregnant, knowing about the recommendations to pregnant women to consider postponing travel to affected areas until after Pregnancy, and were just extra cautious about avoiding getting bitten (lots of deet, loose trousers and long sleeves).
There is no way we will be able to afford to go on holiday after this baby comes. We both have the time off work now so we want to go somewhere!
I suppose my question is (and I'm sure I know the answer most people will give, having spent ages obsessively googling) - would you travel to Mexico if you were 24 weeks pregnant? The risk level has been downgraded to moderate, so it is only recommended to consider postponing travel. When I went at the same time this year I didn't get bitten once. I'd be staying in the resort, not planning any jungle excursions etc.
I did post a thread on this subject a few weeks ago and some very helpful posters gave me some suggestions of other places that might be an option but none of the ones within my budget are appealing to me. Help!

No. this is a two week holiday a baby/child and dealing with the complications are for life. and every time you looked at your child you would blame yourselves. sorry. being a parent is about putting someone else first and it starts when you are pregnant. what about somewhere in Europe like Cyprus. Florida keys, Belize I think is Zika free. or just search on Zika free and see what comes up and go somewhere completely different.

Just because you haven't been bitten before doesn't mean anything especially as the pregnancy hormones alter your blood chemistry and in some cases make people more appealing to be bitten.

No that's bonkers to go to Mexico pg.
The world is a big place go somewhere you aren't risking birth defects

Of course I completely agree, and have told DH the same. I just wondered if anybody had thought of the risk of contracting zika and then the risk of it having an effect on the baby, vs. risks of things that are just as unlikely that people do all the time and decided to go anyway, but have since had a word with myself and of course a 2 week holiday isn't worth even the slightest worry.
On the subject of googling somewhere else to go, thats all I've been doing and the hotter/nicer places are way out of my budget. How warm is e.g Cyprus in January?

We went to Cyprus in Feb and it snowed!!
Apparently that's rare, but it's def not really hot...

I once went to Cyprus in March for a weekend & it was only just starting to warm up.

So not Cyprus anyone been to Egypt this time of year?

I would not risk it at all.

There's a link here of warmer places in January - www.metoffice.gov.uk/holiday-weather/where-is-hot/january - but I'm not sure which places have zika virus so you'll need to take them out of the equation.

What about the canaries?
I go every December/ January always been nice pool weather.. tenerife and gran canaria are best of the canaries that time of year weather wise

Egypt weather in January.

http://www.holiday-weather.com/sharmell_sheikh/averages/january/

We went to Cornwall. I'd rather that than Egypt! Bad stomachs and terrorism alerts do not make a great holiday.

Op when you say you've had lots of suggestions but they aren't in your budget, what is your budget Nd where have you already ruled out as otherwise we're just going to repeat the previous thread

Well realistically the only place we can go with the sort of weather I'd like is Mauritius and that's just a bit too expensive. The hotel we went to in Mexico earlier this year would cost us £2400 for the two of us for 2 weeks.
Don't know how keen I am on Canaries although not been before, so if people would particularly recommend it then I'd look into it. Same with Morrocco.
Other than that, Egypt, Portugal, Cyprus, then after that there aren't many more zika free options!

Probs couldn't afford Australia or Florida.
We've been given some money off vouchers from a friend who works for Tui so ideally it would be one of their holidays but I'm drawing a blank from their website as well

Canaries is the obvious option

I was gonna say Mauritius- you can deffo do it for around £2400 if you shop around

Dubai and South Africa are zika free and excellent winter sun choices

How about turning it round and going some where ‘cold’ - a week in 5 star luxury in Paris, a log cabin in Scotland, snuggling up by the log burner or a 5 star B&B in Prague?

I’m in a similar situation and have booked a 5 star B&B in a French city- pottering around tourist free, wrapping up warm and discovering lovely French Bistros - breakfast in bed surrounded by 400 tc bedding- bliss

We are in a similar position. Zika free choices come down to ME, SA and Mauritiaus. We have a toddler thrown in so didn't want a desperately long flight so we are going Dubai. We are staying at beach type place and then somewhere in the hub of everything.

I was due to go to Bali and exactly one week before I found out I was pregnant. I spoke to the doc about it and they basically told me I'd have to make my own decision. We decided not to travel so lost all of our money on the holiday but the doc did tell me that him and his wife were in a similar situation and they still decided to travel to Vietnam. For me, I decided I'd never forgive myself if I caused something bad to happen.

I'm not sure if it is the right time of year to go but we booked a later deal to Mauritius instead and it was lovely

Go to the Canaries. There are some beautiful bits, it’s hot and zika free. I wouldn’t go to Egypt at the moment

I have a holiday planned to Thailand when I'll be 5 months pregnant. I also thought long and hard about whether to go, but I decided that for me it wasn't a risk worth worrying about. Only a handful of tourists out of hundreds of thousands have been infected. There have been 2-4 cases of microcephaly as a result of zika in Thailand. This is out of a population of 68 million with around 700 000 births per year.

Probably getting dengue fever or a dvt on the flight is more of a risk, as is the drive to the airport. But I'm not saying it's not a serious issue or that everyone should do the same - everyone should do what they feel comfortable with.

By comparison, my 12 week tests for Downs syndrome came back a risk of 1 in 10 000. This is considered an extremely low risk, so low its basically considered negative. Other diseases with similar rates of occurrence, like CF and Fragile X, are considered to rare to bother testing for. But when it comes to zika, a 1 in a million+ risk is considered too high? Not sure if that makes sense. But that's just my view.

@Piewraith that is what I was trying to articulate in a previous post. That the risk is so small. I had a conversation with an obstetrician at work and he said that there isn't a lot of information about the correlation of zika with microcephaly and based on that he would say to avoid.
I'm still so torn.

Has anyone been to the Canaries in January? Was it warm enough to sunbathe and get in the pool?

It's such a funny thing with doctors and pregnancy risk. For example the risk of maternal death (death of mother within 42 days of the birth) is 6-10 in 100 000 in my state. If I told a doctor I was worried about dying, they would say I had nothing to worry about and possibly refer me to mental health services for anxiety. But if I said I was worried about zika (much much lower chance) I would be considered very sensible.

But the Canaries would be lovely so why not! I haven't been there but looks nice.

Sorry piewraith I have to disagree with you. the two risks you are comparing are not in the least comparable.

the only way to avoid the risk of maternal death is not to get pregnant at all isn't it. whereas the way to avoid the risk of Zika is not to take a foreign holiday.

Its not about the percentages actually. its the being there, worrying about it, getting bitten, worrying about it again etc that can put a downer on the holiday.

9 months of pregnancy, not drinking or smoking or horse riding or undertaking any other risky other activity but thinking that its ok to go to a Zika region? sorry I just don't get it.

Canaries for sure. I would not go somewhere with zika or without good hospitals if pregnant. I was going to go to Cyprus at 25 weeks, about to book then turns out it was a complicated pregnancy so couldn't go.