Zika virus

Going on a cruise in may to the Caribbean and I just found out I was pregnant I already called the doctor and he said it was fine and even called the cruise line to ask if their had been any cases of the Zika virus and they said no I should be fine any one ever cruise while pregnant to these places? Are the bugs bad?

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Going on a cruise in may to the Caribbean and I just found out I was pregnant I already called the doctor and he said it was fine and even called the cruise line to ask if their had been any cases of the Zika virus and they said no I should be fine any one ever cruise while pregnant to these places? Are the bugs bad?

 

 

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You've asked this on another sub-forum and received some answers.

Here is a copy of ours:

Given how much is unknown (meaning there is no way to guarantee "safety" for the fetus other than avoiding affected areas) *AND* the fact that the birth defects can be catastrophic, I certainly wouldn't do it, and I'd strongly urge anyone I knew/cared about not to go there.

Is there a cruise to another area you could take?

Or perhaps a land-based trip elsewhere, for this particular vacation?

There will be other cruises for you in the future!

Is there an opportunity to change the cruise to Alaska? Their mosquitos are Zika, Dengue and West Nile free. Perfectly safe to feed the wildlife or national birds.

As pregnant women with their unborn fetus are in one of the highest risk categories with zeka I wouldn't risk it and am surprised with the attitude towards this by your physician. Not sure how the cruise lines could help regarding cases of zeka as the cases would be contracted on an island port of call and not likely realized until back in the US. Even if the cruise lines had a way of tracking that I highly doubt they would report cases contracted while their ships were in ports of call affected. What they do is post warnings on their website regarding the general Caribbean risk with zeka and will typically support re-bookings - which IMO I would do. I also suggest you do more research on the risks.

That's assuming your post is legitimate....

it is still early in the mosquito breeding season. sure, currently there have been few/no reports. but in the next couple of weeks that WILL change.

I live in one of the first US counties to have reported cases of the little bloodsuckers testing positive as well as people being diagnosed as having been exposed. we are already getting the PSAs about not leaving standing water like birdbaths lying around. the spray schedule is being planned.

quite frankly I am APPALLED that your doctor has blithely told you 'it was fine' i'd be changing to new one so fast your head would spin. one picture of a child born with the birth defect this virus causes wold be enough for me to cancel any cruises to any area remotely connected to Zika

Your doctor is a malpractice case waiting to happen. And, the phone reps for cruise lines often don't seem to know what they are talking about. I wouldn't take medical advice from them.

You should cancel this cruise. The risk isn't worth it.

They don't know a lot about Zika yet or if all pregnant women who get infected have brain damaged babies. So pretty impossible to gauge risk to you and unborn baby.

I would see if you can change cruise to different area. If you do go. Maybe stay on board ship and make sure you use really good mosquito repellent.

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I wouldn't go. I know myself well enough to know that worrying about it would ruin the cruise for me.

Are you in the penalty period? Cancel fast!!!! Please don't take that risk.

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Suggest you not take the risk and take any precaution form exposure.

Going on a cruise in may to the Caribbean and I just found out I was pregnant I already called the doctor and he said it was fine and even called the cruise line to ask if their had been any cases of the Zika virus and they said no I should be fine any one ever cruise while pregnant to these places? Are the bugs bad?

 

 

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I would trust the advice of the CDC over that of cruise sales people. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/protect-yourself.html.

I would trust the advice of the CDC over that of cruise sales people. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/protect-yourself.html.

This is the best suggestion yet.

If you are cruising in May you have already passed the final payment date. Do you have trip cancellation insurance?

Your precious baby is worth more than a cruise to the Caribbean. The choice is obviously yours, but I also feel you have been given some very poor advice by your physician.

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No trip insurance will pay for a cancellation because you might get Zika.

Cancel for any reason would allow OP to get some money back, but I'm guessing she didn't have this coverage.

IF you decide to cruise, please take precautions. Do not take any excursions which take you inland. Stay by the shore or on the ship. Make sure you take mosquito wipes and use them. Cover as much of your arms and legs as possible. Watch that any sunscreen you may use will not counteract the mosquito wipes.

We just got back from a cruise with my daughter and son in law. They postponed even trying to get pregnant until they had completed the cruise and they are scheduled to have blood tests to verify they are Zika free.

If I was in your shoes today I would still go on my cruise and take the usual precautions. I never believed the zika/microcephaly scare for a moment after reading about the area where the concentration was found in Brazil. Illegal pesticides are the most likely blame for this as well as nutritional deficiencies. The rest of the "crisis" was manufactured for profit and placed a lot of people in more danger as they "battled" the non existent crisis. Lots of info to read online. Here is one example. Do your own research and come to a decision you feel at peace with.

OMG!!! Zika has no thing to do with pesticides and Zika is real. I'm betting you don't vaccinate your children either!

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If I was in your shoes today I would still go on my cruise and take the usual precautions. I never believed the zika/microcephaly scare for a moment after reading about the area where the concentration was found in Brazil. Illegal pesticides are the most likely blame for this as well as nutritional deficiencies. The rest of the "crisis" was manufactured for profit and placed a lot of people in more danger as they "battled" the non existent crisis. Lots of info to read online. Here is one example. Do your own research and come to a decision you feel at peace with.

Facts don't care what one chooses to believe.

But the advice to do one's own research is good. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/about/index.html

If I was in your shoes today I would still go on my cruise and take the usual precautions. I never believed the zika/microcephaly scare for a moment after reading about the area where the concentration was found in Brazil. Illegal pesticides are the most likely blame for this as well as nutritional deficiencies. The rest of the "crisis" was manufactured for profit and placed a lot of people in more danger as they "battled" the non existent crisis. Lots of info to read online. Here is one example. Do your own research and come to a decision you feel at peace with.

This sounds like an opinion based upon headlines in supermarket tabloids rather than CDC reports or grown-ups' news sources.

OMG!!! Zika has no thing to do with pesticides and Zika is real. I'm betting you don't vaccinate your children

Well, the appalling lack of logic and science in the linked article would support your guess that this is an anti-vaccer.

Of course, Zika is not caused by pesticides. But, you can't argue with stupid.

OMG this is a horrible situation. And for someone to think otherwise is beyond ignorant.

Published April 4, 2017

A new study has found that in the U.S., one out of every ten pregnant women with a confirmed Zika virus infection may go on to have a baby with serious birth defects.

The report, published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), analyzes data from the U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry, a database that epidemiologists have been using to track pregnancy outcomes among Zika-affected women living in the U.S. It is the largest study so far of pregnancy outcomes in American women infected with Zika, and experts say its key findings are a cause for concern: not only is the risk of birth defects even higher than expected, but many doctors and families are skipping the tests needed to keep newborns safe.

"Zika may seem like last year’s problem or an issue confined to Brazil and parts of the Caribbean," says CDC acting director Dr. Anne Schuchat, M.D. "[but] our findings reinforce that this is not the time to be complacent."

In 2016 alone, 1,297 pregnancies from 44 states (excluding Puerto Rico) were reported to the Registry. Some of the pregnant women were infected by mosquito bites they received in the U.S., but the vast majority of cases (including all that resulted in birth defects) were travel-related, meaning that the women contracted the virus while visiting a Zika-affected country, or through unprotected sex with someone who was infected abroad.

The study authors focused on the 972 pregnancies that were “completed” by the end of 2016 and that had laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection. Of those 972, only 250 had a fully confirmed diagnosis (meaning their tests clearly showed evidence of the virus); 10% of those pregnancies (24 out of 250) resulted in fetuses or babies with serious birth defects. For women whose infections were confirmed during the first trimester, that percentage shot up to 15%.

Those numbers mark a 20-30-fold increase in birth defects compared with the baseline rate in the continental U.S. But experts say they may still be a gross underestimation of the actual risk: According to data from the registry, just one-fourth of the babies whose mothers showed some evidence of Zika infection during pregnancy received brain imaging tests after they were born.

The CDC recommends that all such babies receive a head ultrasound or CT within their first year of life, to monitor for brain defects that may not be evident at birth. (The agency also recommends that all babies born to Zika-exposed mothers be tested for Zika themselves at birth; the current report found that at least one-third of doctors and families also skipped this test).

For reasons that health officials have yet to determine, doctors and patients have largely ignored that advice. And because those scans weren't done in a majority of cases, it's impossible to say what portion of babies who initially appeared healthy eventually developed problems.

The report does appear to solve at least one longstanding Zika mystery: The authors note that in their analysis, women who had symptoms of Zika virus infection (including fever, joint and muscle pain and nausea) and women who had no such symptoms, were equally likely to pass the virus on to their fetuses.

The findings drive home the urgency of remaining vigilant about Zika prevention. The CDC urges women who are pregnant, or who are trying to become pregnant, to avoid traveling to Zika affected countries, to wear an EPA-registered insect repellent, and to take other basic precautions against mosquito bites, such as ridding their yards of standing water. For a more complete list of mosquito-bite prevention tips, see our 2017 Zika update here.

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