Postponing Pregnancy in the Zika Era: Timing Is Everything

Officials in several Latin American countries have recommended pregnancy delay to avoid prenatal Zika exposure during early gestation. Using demographic data from Colombia, researchers modeled the impact of such pregnancy delay on vector-borne Zika transmission.

Assuming 50% adherence to the recommendation, a delay of 9 to 24 months may decrease prenatal Zika infections by 17% to 44%. However, a delay of ≤6 months may increase such infections by 2% to 7%. The reason for this potential increase is that the postponed pregnancies may coincide with the peak of the epidemic, thereby increasing the number of women at risk for having a child with microcephaly or other Zika-related abnormalities.