Travel in Pregnancy

Practicalities Getting Organised Travel in Pregnancy Unsuitable Destinations 

• High altitude regions are unsuitable for both mother and baby at any stage of pregnancy because of the lower levels of oxygen.



• High fever and dehydration caused by diarrhoea have been implicated in miscarriage. For this reason some practitioners feel that it is wiser to restrict travel during pregnancy to countries with a developed medical system and even more importantly, those where you are less likely to encounter infections causing this.



• Countries requiring vaccinations are not a good idea, as immunisation is not generally recommended during pregnancy as fever, a potential side effect can unsettle an early pregnancy. Immunisation involving a live virus (for example oral polio or typhoid, and yellow fever), is particularly to be avoided, or one likely to cause a high fever (diphtheria and typhoid). The BCG vaccination against TB may affect the foetus and is therefore not given during pregnancy.



• If you wish to visit somewhere where a vaccination is either mandatory or advisable (not the same thing) you should discuss the matter with your GP - ideally at least two months before departure - or even better, contact experts in the field such as those below.



• Hepatitis A is reported much more severe if contracted during pregnancy so you either need protection with a vaccine or to avoid places where you might encounter it.



• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised in particular against pregnant women and small children visiting areas where cholera and malaria are endemic. If you are pregnant when you contract the plasmodium malariae strain, for example, it will be passed on to your child and malaria can lead to miscarriage. Moreover, there are doubts about taking anti-malarial drugs in pregnancy though MASTA states that chloroquine, proguanil and Maloprim are safe in pregnancy but a folate supplement should be used if taking either proguanil or Maloprim. Mefloquine is considered to be safe to use in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. European and Scandinavian forests in late spring and summer are also best avoided because of the risk of tick-borne encephalitis.



• If you go anywhere where there are mosquitoes note that repellents containing DEET are not recommended for use in pregnancy (see Bites under Health below). Note also that pregnant women are more likely to be bitten possibly because pregnancy increases the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled, the presence of which is used by mosquitoes to find victims. Increased body size, increased blood flow to the skin are another couple of possible factors.