How to Prevent the Zika Virus Part 2

Recently I wrote an article on how I planned to prevent getting the Zika virus while traveling in Central America . A few things have changed since then.

I still stand by everything I said in my previous article. However, my husband and I started to feel uneasy about traveling to a place with the risk of Zika virus. I was talking to my family too and they agreed.

Since my husband and I are wanting to have children in the near future, we decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of he or I getting it as he could pass it to me. A couple of my family members are medical doctors and have kept up to date on news about the Zika virus.

They informed me that it is possible for the Zika virus to stay in a male’s sperm for 6-8 months ( Source ). That means that we would have to wait for at least that long to have children without the risk of microcephaly.

We were disappointed by not being able to go. We were really looking forward to being in Nicaragua. However, we feel peace with our decision. We are traveling within the US now. The areas we are going are not affected by Zika.

Just so you know, airlines are offering complete refunds of your money and points if you have a concern about contracting the Zika virus. We were flying with Delta and they did not even require a note by my doctor. I am not sure about the policies of other airlines on this, but I do know that other airlines are refunding money for this reason.

My number one piece of advice to avoid contracting the Zika virus is do not travel to an area affected with the Zika virus. If you are unable to avoid it or live in an area affected with it, then please follow the advice I laid out in my previous article here

I believe that those are great ways of avoiding contracting the virus or even curing it. Since we are wanting to have children soon, we decided it is not worth the risk of me getting the virus.

At this point no one knows enough about the Zika virus, whether a pregnant woman will pass it on to her unborn baby or whether that baby will develop birth defects like microcephaly ( Source ). Currently, the CDC is studying 279 pregnant women who have been either confirmed or suspected of having the Zika virus. It will be interesting to see what happens with them.

Until we know more, all we can do is take precautions as I explained in my previous post. A good bug spray , sleeping with a mosquito net, homeopathy , abstinence and avoiding travel to affected areas are great ways of preventing the Zika virus.

Please let me know if you have questions and let me know what you think in the comments!

d2623-8 by US Department of Agriculture (2012) https://flic.kr/p/dPqraQ

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