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Travelling Abroad - Zika Virus & Ebola Virus advice
Travelling abroad for leisure or work purposes to certain areas can expose you to infections that can be harmful for you or the baby if you get pregnant.
These infections can be passed on to the baby through eggs or sperm and therefore can affect your decision to donate your eggs or sperm. Transmission of these infections are via mosquitoes and therefore you should take extra care to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
For travel to a specific area and health related infections in that area, please follow this link for information: - https://www.transfusionguidelines.org/dsg/gdri/guidelines.
Please see the table below for information specific to fertility treatment/donation.
Infection risk | Guidance to minimise risk for pregnancy / donation | Guidance Authority | What do you need to do |
Zika virus | Female travellers should not try to conceive naturally, have fertility treatment or donate eggs for 2 months. Male travellers should not try to conceive naturally, have fertility treatment or donate sperm for 3 months. | European centre for disease prevention and control (ECDC). | Avoid travelling to areas with moderate or high risk of transmission. For an A-Z list of countries at risk please visit the gov.uk website. If you have visited or working in an affected area, let us know and we will be able to advise you. |
Ebola virus | Sperm donors cannot donate for 2 years and egg donors cannot donate for 6 months after leaving an Ebola affected area Ebola survivors cannot donate gametes. | Advisory committee on Dangerous pathogens (ACDP), Public health England. | Please inform us, if you have visited an Ebola affected area in West Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia) in the last two years or have been diagnosed with Ebola. |