How ridiculous am I: living in DC, waiting until after mosquito season to start TTC?

[Anonymous]

No recent or upcoming travel to any Zika regions, including Florida. DH and I both wearing long sleeves, pants, and DEET outside all the time, and staying indoors as much as possible.

I want to just go for it but every week or so I'll get another mosquito bite (through my pants...now I spray my pants, on my face...now rub bug spray onto my face, in the SHOWER...ugh), and then I get anxious and feel like I should push it back a few more weeks due to the 0.00001% chance that the most recent bite was from a first, undetected, infected mosquito in DC. (And yes, I know other birth defects are statistically more likely, but since there's no way to prevent them I don't even really worry about them.) I'd love to just make it through at least my first trimester bite-free. Am I being SO silly? Talk me down?

[Anonymous]

I think this is ridiculous for a few reasons. First, mosquito season doesn't really end until November these days (stays warm so long) and if you did get bitten by a mosquito they warn you not to TTC for a few months, which would put you at Feb/March...right at the start of the next mosquito season. I'd go for it now, when there are fewer zika mosquitos around all over, and not wait for a more widespread outbreak.

[Anonymous]

I am pregnant already and you are being way more cautious than I am. Do your best to limit bites, but realize you will not get through the summer with zero bites. Most of the time the mosquito biting you isn't even the species that carries Zika. Your chances are really VERY VERY small of contracting Zika in DC from a mosquito. By all means, keep doing your best to limit bites, but also RELAX.

[Anonymous]

Mosquitoes can linger here until fall or even early winter, and can start showing up again as early as May. So unless you think you can time conception for exactly Feb 1, I don't think you're being realistic. If anything, TTC ASAP before the virus gets up here from Florida.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am pregnant already and you are being way more cautious than I am. Do your best to limit bites, but realize you will not get through the summer with zero bites. Most of the time the mosquito biting you isn't even the species that carries Zika. Your chances are really VERY VERY small of contracting Zika in DC from a mosquito. By all means, keep doing your best to limit bites, but also RELAX.

Thank you, kind gentle voice of reason. -OP

[Anonymous]

Definitely better to start trying now since you really have no idea when you'll be successful and there are many steps you can take to limit your risk.

But if time isn't a consideration for you, then sure, wait until you feel more comfortable. It's not necessarily going to make things any safer for you, but at least you'll have peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

This Zika stuff reminds me of the full-blown Ebola panic that happened last year about this time. Remember when all of us here in the US were going to get Ebola?

Here is what is happening. The media is covering this story heavily and so you are thinking about it and reading about it and worrying about it and going to the worst place in your mind. Meanwhile, there are probably a dozen things you did before noon today that carry more risk than this. But you're not thinking about those things. Because they're not on CNN.

I would turn off the TV, stop reading about it, and start TTC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mosquitoes can linger here until fall or even early winter, and can start showing up again as early as May. So unless you think you can time conception for exactly Feb 1, I don't think you're being realistic. If anything, TTC ASAP before the virus gets up here from Florida.

I asked a doctor friend about this, and she said NOW is the time before the virus becomes more widespread.

[Anonymous]

OP, I completely understand where you are coming from. We had planned to ttc this summer, because of some circumstances, the door didn't really open til July. Now, with the news breaking of domestic transmission, my husband is extremely concerned. Up until this point I've spoken with my doctor and researched as much as I can. Today though, with all of the news, I reached out to a former colleague who is a public health expert for the fed. He has a toddler daughter, so I knew he would understand my concern. I basically asked him what he would recommend re ttc in in the current climate, if it was his family expansion that was under consideration. THe below is what he shared:

"If I were making the decision, I might wait a bit until the heat died down to really try to buy down the risk, but I wouldn't treat it as a main factor in deciding when to try to get pregnant. While the consequences of an infection during pregnancy could be significant, the risk of it actually happening in the DC area looks pretty low. We do have the mosquitos that transmit the disease, but we're right at the end of the range for aedes agyepti, the main transmitter, and I haven't seen any strong evidence that we have huge populations here. Another factor that makes me think it's unlikely we'll see widespread transmission around here is that we haven't seen widespread transmission of Dengue, Chikungunya, or Yellow Fever around here either, which are other viruses spread by the same bugs.

The virus is expected to become endemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, similar to Dengue. This means that we can expect periodic small outbreaks in the U.S. each year, similar to what we expect to see this year, so your risk level likely won't change over the long-term.

Bottom line, waiting a few months for piece of mind won't hurt anything, but beyond that it won't get you anything. "

I hope that's helpful in shaping thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I completely understand where you are coming from. We had planned to ttc this summer, because of some circumstances, the door didn't really open til July. Now, with the news breaking of domestic transmission, my husband is extremely concerned. Up until this point I've spoken with my doctor and researched as much as I can. Today though, with all of the news, I reached out to a former colleague who is a public health expert for the fed. He has a toddler daughter, so I knew he would understand my concern. I basically asked him what he would recommend re ttc in in the current climate, if it was his family expansion that was under consideration. THe below is what he shared:

"If I were making the decision, I might wait a bit until the heat died down to really try to buy down the risk, but I wouldn't treat it as a main factor in deciding when to try to get pregnant. While the consequences of an infection during pregnancy could be significant, the risk of it actually happening in the DC area looks pretty low. We do have the mosquitos that transmit the disease, but we're right at the end of the range for aedes agyepti, the main transmitter, and I haven't seen any strong evidence that we have huge populations here. Another factor that makes me think it's unlikely we'll see widespread transmission around here is that we haven't seen widespread transmission of Dengue, Chikungunya, or Yellow Fever around here either, which are other viruses spread by the same bugs.

The virus is expected to become endemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, similar to Dengue. This means that we can expect periodic small outbreaks in the U.S. each year, similar to what we expect to see this year, so your risk level likely won't change over the long-term.

Bottom line, waiting a few months for piece of mind won't hurt anything, but beyond that it won't get you anything. "

I hope that's helpful in shaping thoughts!

OP here - thank you for this! Very helpful. Think I'm feeling better about starting now. Just going to keep wearing all this bug spray and all these clothes.

[Anonymous]

It's ridiculous to act like the mosquito risk is the same in December as it is in August! Yes, you MAY find a mosquito in the winter months but the quantity is SUBSTANTIALLY lower. So yes, the risk of transmission is MUCH lower in winter than it is in summer.

That said, it's still incredibly unlikely in DC. However, we have not had the Olympics yet and all of the travelers going between the US and Brazil. I would not be surprised AT ALL if we see transmissions of the disease in our area by the end of this month or September after tons of travel between Zika infected areas and our area.

However, the risks could be higher next summer than they are now! Though, they are working on a vaccination and it may also be under control by next year.

I think you are doing the best you can, but I don't blame people for waiting for winter months. To say that you COULD find a mosquito in the winter and so the risk is still there DOES NOT MEAN THE RISK IS THE SAME. The probability changes dramatically...

[Anonymous]

I asked a friend who is an epidemiologist and she said this summer is the best time to be pregnant because there hasn't been enough time for local transmission.

I am pregnant and not taking any of those precautions. I think I have been bitten 2x, which is unusual for the summer, so they are probably spraying like crazy. At this point I would be more worried about DEET affecting the fetus than somehow randomly being bitten by a mosquito who had just bitten someone with Zika.

Also, keep in mind that even if you are infected, you have a 10-15% chance of passing it along to your baby. It's not 1:1. There have been cases of twins being born to an infected mother, one child has microencephaly and one doesn't. These things probably have a lot to do with immune system. Not stressing will help your health!

[Anonymous]

Gah got another mosquito bite today and it's got me stressing again.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you're crazy. Just wait until Oct and then still use the bug spray until it cold.

[Anonymous]

Unless you are in your twenties and thinking of holding off for years till there is a vaccine, I'd go ahead and start now before the virus gets to DC.