Anyone travel to Mexico while pregnant? Zika risks...

Tulips29 · June 2019

Hi all - hoping you can weight in with your opinions on this topic. Before we got pregnant, my husband and I, along with some friends, booked a group trip to Mexico (Cancun area). We didn't even think about Zika at the time, totally slipped our minds at the time of booking. Fast forward a few months and I'm now 10.5 weeks pregnant. I've been discussing this upcoming trip with my regular OB and the referring MFM doc he sent me to + another specialist they told me to speak with about this....basically everyone is saying not to go and there's a risk. The last specialist is saying the risk is low, but it only takes 1 bite from the wrong mosquito. He's saying if we end up going, just to load up on bug spray, treat me clothes with some special chemical, etc. I got tested for Zika recently as we were in DR a few months back and it's negative, but I know the risk is still there for the upcoming trip. My husband and I both feel it's probably not worth going. After all, we tried sooo hard for this baby, not to mention spent so much money. We can get the money back for the hotel, but flights we might lose out on...but the loss is still smaller than potentially losing a pregnancy. So while I'm pretty much set on cancelling the trip, I can't help but feel upset and torn as we were looking forward to this. I was just curious about what would you do. Would you go or cancel? Has anyone gone recently, especially while pregnant, and can share their experiences? Thank you.

wabash15 · June 2019

@tulips29 I think you have to evaluate the risk for yourself... though the risk is probably low I suspect the devastation if something were to happen would out way the joy of the trip, and would you be able to enjoy the trip or would you be worried the whole time? Could you change the destination to somewhere Zika free?

mbradfo2 · June 2019

@Tulips29
I live in South Florida so Zika was actually a concern during my first pregnancy (m/c, unrelated) and while it was not actively spreading during my 2nd and successful pregnancy (we had a few isolated new cases but they were all travel related), I was still following all of the guidelines and recommendations from our local health department to avoid mosquito bites. Did not travel to Miami, for example, where there were recent active cases. Avoided being outside too much, especially in the evening or near bodies of water, and used protection to avoid mosquito bites as much as possible. One of my colleagues was pregnant at the same time and we were both freaked out over every new report on Zika even though they were just travel related.

Officially, there are no current active cases or active outbreaks in Mexico. Unofficially, we have no idea when there might be new cases or new pockets of outbreak -- and the data the CDC uses is often older because it takes a long time to filter through all of the reports they get from agencies. Personally, I would just say no to going to Mexico since even if the risk is low, do you want to even chance it? I agree with your doctors -- it's just not worth it.

Griffin5413 · June 2019

@Tulips29 I’m with you. I probably wouldn’t want to risk it. Sure the likelihood is really low but all it takes is 1 bite. We go through so much just to get pregnant I wouldn’t want to take the chance. Sounds like you are getting some good advice from your drs was though!

Tulips29 · June 2019

@wabash15 yes, we're trying to figure out if we should just not go anywhere at all or change the destination to somewhere zika-free. I think I'm just mostly upset about not having this experience with my friends and going as one big group somewhere fun.

@mbradfo2 that's the thing that worries me as well, the unofficial count. Plus, I feel like many cases may not get reported because people don't have symptoms or can't afford treatment in these countries. I'd just worry for an entire week while there and it'd drive me crazy.

@Griffin5413 yes, the more I think about it, the more I think it's better to cancel and not have to worry about possible risk.

Thanks for your feedback, ladies!

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