Can I travel to a Zika country after having IVF?

[Priceslice]

Hi all,

Booked a holiday to Malaysia when I was waiting to hear if I would be having IVF funded by the NHS. Found out a few days after booking that I would need to self fund. The IVF journey is happening much quicker than with the NHS (which I am so happy about) and I’m due to have my egg transfer at the end of July.

However (and you can probably predict what is coming…), the clinic want me to cancel my holiday to Malaysia otherwise I will need to postpone treatment for three months. Totally understand it. I’d researched a part of Malaysia that has had minimal Zika rates and has a low population of mosquitoes but they’re still not happy about it.

The holiday is booked for the end of August so I should know by then if IVF has worked. Is there anything stopping me just going anyway? The clinic have my passport details but I’m assuming they can’t track my comings and goings?

Obviously IVF is the most important thing to me and I’m happy to cancel this if needs be. Having a baby after years of infertility hell is so much more important to me than a trip. But if I can avoid losing money and I’ve already had the treatment, what is stopping me?

If there is anything I’m being naïve to, please, please, please tell me as this process is all very new and heavy to me right now!

Are you starting IVF in July or do you already have an embryo in the freezer that you will transfer in July?

If you're starting IVF from scratch then if it were me I wouldn't go on the holiday.

Reason being is if your IVF goes well you might have more than one embryo (one to transfer and some to freeze). If the first one fails to implant in July, then you go on holiday, you won't be able to have a second attempt at transferring an embryo until a certain amount of time after you get back from holiday.

At least that is my understanding... I think it's something like a few months wait before you are allowed to transfer an embryo after you have been to a zika country. So it could delay treatment for you.

I'm not an expert though so hopefully you get other people comment on this thread with more of an idea 😊

If you don’t start before you travel you can have a test for you and your partner to see if you have caught Zika and your treatment would be delayed.

If you have had treatment and are in your TWW or pregnant - no you absolutely shouldn’t go.

If you have your treatment and it doesn’t work, you can go but need testing after you are back before having anything transferred/more treatment.

My younger brother gets married this year in Malaysia and we can’t go, it’s really sad to miss it but we are prioritising IVF/pregnancy.

@Priceslice I absolutely would not go if there is a chance you could be pregnant at the time of travel. Even though the risk is small of catching, the effects of Zika on an unborn child can be devastating.

If you do go, you should wait the appropriate amount of time before TTC.

Also depending what kind of treatment you're having, you may find the timing of trying to do a cycle in July and travelling in August doesn't work. Personally, I would either postpone TTC until after you are back and have waited the 3 months on your return, or not go.

Don’t mean it in a bad way but people who get naturally pregnant are not restricted in this way

I would just use anti mosquito repellent with DEET

@wildglow yes they are https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/zika/ it’s a very dangerous disease with no cure. Don’t tell people to do irresponsible and unethical things over the internet.

I wouldn’t risk it. Our first child was conceived without IVF and we didn't go to Maldives as we were trying during that time. If you are self funding why not just wait the appropriate time then start?

Thank you all for your replies; I needed to hear a lot of this.

My egg transfer is in late July and, to be honest, my infertility journey has been going on since 2021 and I’m just ready to get cracking with IVF now. I would rather cancel a holiday than wait any longer as my mental health around all of this is the worse its ever been.

Thank you all again!

@Priceslice Itll be a lovely place to visit once you have your baby ☺️ We are planning to go back once we have our little one. Good luck with your IVF journey, I hope it all works out for you. x

I was in the same predicament as you as I had a holiday to Costa Rica booked and then found out my FET had been successful. After doing some research, I managed to convince myself it was fine and I stocked up on Deet spray etc and told myself the same thing that women in these places get pregnant all the time and the risk must be tiny.

Two days later, I spoke to a good friend who had a stern word with me about how ridiculous I was being and that if there's any risk at all given all the years of mental trauma, money, time to get to this position I'd never live with myself if something happened. She was totally right and that evening decided to cancel the whole thing. We've lost money so I need to spend some time going through the small print of my insurance policy to see if I can try and claw some of it back. It's all been very tedious, frustrating and stressful tbh but I am ultimately confident and happy with my decision on reflection. I would have been on edge the whole time, I probably shouldn't be flying that far anyway at this early stage, I've had miscarriages in the past so it would be devastating to need to be hospitalised while so far from home in a country I don't really speak the language etc and half the activities we'd planned to do I wouldn't even be able to do. Another time I suppose!

Thank you so much for your kind words ☺️

It’s comforting to hear others that had the same predicament - I thought I was going to be slightly torn apart on here regarding my priorities! Two things can be important to you at the same time and after stressful IVF journeys I feel like we all need a relaxing holiday. But you’re right; the chance of anything happening just isn’t worth the risk and parenthood is the main priority always.

Congratulations on your successful FET and I hope all goes well for you 🥰