Is Zika virus still a concern in 2023 for pregnant women traveling to the Caribbean?
Hi all, I know that various health agencies like USA, Canada and UK still list places like the Dominican Republic as a "concern" for pregnant women in terms of Zika virus and advise against travel there but after doing some research to find numbers of cases it seems like they are so few and far in between in most countries that they stopped counting. For example, while I couldn't find stats for DR specifically (which is where I'm going) I found this graph of cases in Mexico which is more populous and probably has more areas with mosquitos and it shows only 35 cases for 2021 and 3 for 2022 (which may be incomplete) which sounds very minimal. Moreover, I looked at a Dominican news site and searched for "Zika" and there are literally no results after 2016 which if it was a real problem there I'd expect it would still be in the news.
So, that being said, while I know nothing is ever fully zero risk, all signs point to a big green light for my trip to the DR and then just get a Zika test upon return to ensure there's no asymptomatic case. I would like to ask you guys for a second opinion on this matter; thanks in advance for any advice and info!
Posted Jan 16, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC
This is definitely something you should just ask your doctor about. I'm going to Cancun at 16 weeks, and my OB is fine with it. He said it's true that cases are most likely underreported, but as long as I'm planning on staying on the resort, wearing sun screen and bug spray, and not going trekking through the rainforest, then I have the exact same risk there as I would at home.
If you're in the situation where you already asked your doctor and they informed you of the risks and are leaving it up to you, then I would say yes, you should go. But if you haven't asked your doctor yet, then your doctor should always be the final opinion on anything pregnancy-related.