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Zika Virus

Here is the new (December 2019) Public Health Agency of Canada Recommendation on Zika

The Public Health Agency of Canada has updated the recommendation for travellers visiting countries or areas with risk of Zika virus and the classification of countries according to risk or potential risk of Zika virus.

PHAC no longer recommends that pregnant women or women who are trying to conceive avoid travelling to countries or areas with risk of Zika virus. Instead, they are advised to discuss potential travel with a health care professional, and may choose to avoid or postpone travel to these areas. PHAC continues to recommend that pregnant women avoid travelling to areas with a current Zika virus outbreak.
The country classification scheme has been updated and aligns with the World Health Organization classification scheme. This scheme categorizes countries according to the presence or absence of current or historical reported Zika virus transmission.
There are currently no countries listed that have a Zika outbreak. Please check the latest updates here.

Updated July 2019:

The CDC, in collaboration with FDA, has developed a process to define areas at increased risk for Zika virus transmission within the U.S. and throughout the world.

Within the U.S:

The US is the only country for which we have current, accurate information regarding Zika risk. There is no current local transmission of Zika virus in the continental United States as of February 28, 2019. This includes Florida and Texas, which last reported local transmission of Zika virus by mosquitoes in 2016-17. No Zika virus transmission by mosquitoes has ever been reported in Alaska and Hawaii. This information is subject to change. An up-to-date list of Zika virus transmission in the United states can be found at the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html

Outside the U.S.

For countries and territories outside the U.S. states, the CDC has created a world map of areas with risk of Zika virus infection, which will be updated on a regular basis. This map indicates the level of risk using four different color shading:

https://www.cdc.gov/zika/areasatrisk.html

Red: Country or territory with current Zika outbreak

Purple: Country or territory with any prior or current reports of mosquito-borne Zika transmission

Yellow: Country or territory with the vector and no reported mosquito-borne Zika transmission

Green: Country or territory with no mosquitoes that spread Zika

The CDC categorizes Red and Purple areas as those at increased risk of Zika virus transmission. Any country that reports an outbreak above baseline transmission will turn Red on the map, and the recommendation will be not to travel there. The decision of whether or not to travel to a Purple country before conception is a function of patient risk tolerance.

Asymptomatic women and men undergoing ART with possible exposure to Zika virus or who have traveled to a zone of possible Zika exposure (see 5. Areas at increased risk for Zika virus transmission, above) should wait 8 weeks for women and 3 months for men.

LINK TO FULL REFERENCE DOCUMENT: https://www.asrm.org/globalassets/asrm/asrm-content/news-and-publications/practice-guidelines/for-members/guidance_for_providers_zika_virus_exposure.pdf

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