Travel to Thailand - Zika virus - would you go?

E

ECHK

New member
Hi all. My husband and I have booked a holiday in Krabi, Thailand for the first week of October. I will be 14 weeks pregnant by that stage, and I've just realised there are cautions against travel to Thailand for pregnant women due to zika virus.

We are staying at a hotel/resort and aren't planning to hike in jungles or anything out of the ordinary. If I take precautions such as plenty of DEET insect repellent, wearing long pants etc, do you think it's safe for us to go? Obviously it's a question of weighing up the risks. Just wondering what other mums have decided to do in these situations. Zika is in Singapore as well and there are plenty of pregnant ladies there too!

Appreciate your thoughts.
 
I went to Koh Phangan around the same time as you - 14 weeks ish.

Was fine. Was religious with the insect repellent, and didn't worry about the long pants - was waaaay too hot to wear long clothing anyway.

If your bed has a mozzie screen around it, try to keep it closed. We sprayed inside the net before we went to dinner, and had a can of mozzie spray in the room in case any got inside while the cleaner was cleaning etc.

Surprisingly, we didn't see many mozzies at all... and didn't get a single bite. We did, however, get a few sea lice bites.

The nurses at the hospital were wide eyed when I said I'd been to Thailand while pregnant. I got the blood test done, and all clear.
 
Thank you so much for your response! It's such a tough call I'm still tossing up whether to go or not. I think the risk is relatively low especially if you take precautions - but I can see myself spending the whole holiday being super paranoid about getting bitten. I'll have to think about it a bit more and weigh up the risks. Thanks again!!
 
I don't think it is worth the risk. The CDC advise no travel to Thailand for pregnant women and men carry and can still transmit the virus up to six months after travel. The risk is low, but it's still a risk. There are a few places left in Asia that don't have risk of transmission - might be worth investigating those options for a lovely beach holiday instead.
 
I went to Koh Samui at 19 weeks. I am usually very prone to mosquitoes and normally use natural herbal mosquito repellant here in Hong Kong but made sure to use 20%-30% DEET products while I was there. I saw some bottles with 99% concentration at the local pharmacy but thought surely those levels are toxic! Fortunately, didn't get bitten much while I was there. Friends that didn't spray were bitten constantly, especially during dinners on the beach.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. In the end I've decided not to go - I think the risk could have been managed but I wouldn't have relaxed and enjoyed the holiday I would have just felt worried the whole time and paranoid about getting bitten. Pretty disappointed but baby has to come first right!
 
Agree-- My husband booked us a long weekend to Vietnam, not thinking about Zika at the time. We decided to cancel. I'm too much of a worry wart to be able to let it go and enjoy myself.
 
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