Aruba Zika has been headlining international news. Leaving many people including pregnant women (and who want to get pregnant) scared to travel to Aruba.
So, should you also be worried to travel to Aruba because of Zika travel alerts?
The Current Aruba Zika Situation
There is a lot of confusion around the Aruba Zika situation in the media.
According to Aruba Tourism Authority and Aruba’s Department of Public Health you shouldn’t panic about Zika in Aruba.
Since Aruba has been added to the travel watch there has been only 4 reported cases.
This number of Zika cases is extremely low compared to other tropical territories.
And these cases are very old because at the moment there are no new Zika cases.
The Zika situation in Aruba is not that alarming as the media makes it out to be.
Aruba is safe for traveling despite all the negative news.
Why You Shouldn’t Be Worried About Aruba Zika
Aruba Tourism Authority is making locals more conscious on how to combat Zika.
They are doing this by motivating the community to be motivated and determined to eliminate breeding grounds around their house.
Moreover, you shouldn’t be worried because…
- Zika virus does not pose an alarming threat to visitors.
- Hotels are taking proactive measures to combat all mosquito borne viruses.
- Volunteers are cleaning up and eradicating breeding grounds around the hotel area.
- Aruba Tourism Authority are monitoring and limiting Zika cases.
Security for Visitors
The security for travelers to Aruba is considered very high.
Aruba’s Department of Public Health and Aruba Tourism Authority are working together to reduce mosquitoes around the hotel area.
They made repellents available for all visitors.
How Can You Get Infected With Zika?
When a mosquito bites you…
But not every time a mosquito bites you means you’re going to get Zika. Because not all mosquitoes have the Zika virus.
You only get infected with Zika when a mosquito with the virus bites you.
And if you happen to have Zika and a uninfected mosquito bites you – you will transfer the virus to the mosquito. This mosquito will infect another person when it bites them.
The Zika virus is carried by a mosquito better known as Aedes Aegypti.
You can recognize it by it’s white and black stripes.
Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes Zika.
The Symptoms of Zika
The following symptoms may give you a clue that you have Zika:
- Headaches
- Rashes
- Red Eye
- Pain behind your eyes
- Fever
- Pain in your joints.
Symptoms of Zika
If you have one of these symptoms after a mosquito bites you go to the hospital..
How to Protect Yourself Against Mosquito Bites
Protect yourself by taking precautionary measures such as:
- Sleeping under a mosquito net
- Wear clothing that covers you all over
- Use mosquito repellent.
- Avoid any location on Aruba that has mosquitoes.
What To Do After You Travel To Aruba
When you’re back home prevent any mosquito bites for at least 2 weeks after your trip. Because some people get infected with Zika and they don’t get any symptoms or get sick.
So preventing mosquito bites will help stop spreading the virus to other people
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I was in Aruba last week for my seventh visit. Mosquitoes have never been around. In fact this visit I saw so many dragonflies I wondered if perhaps the island had invested in the natural mosquito predator! No worries. One happy island!
The amount of mosquitoes is getting less indeed. If the dragon files are responsible for this, more dragon flies please! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience Anne.
Angelo, very good article, I have a query to do, what is the situation of the mosquito outside the area of hotels ?, I am going to stay in the neighborhood of San Miguel near the Bubali Bird Sanctuary. thank you very much
Hi Federico, thank you. Outside of the hotel area the mosquito situation is not alarming. I’m not saying there aren’t any mosquitoes. But I think you won’t be bothered at all. However do bring som repellent, because you never know where you might go when exploring Aruba that does have more mosquito than normal. Sunny regards, Angelo. See you soon in Aruba 🙂
Angelo, How is the situation with the recent rains in Aruba? Especially with mosquitoes and zika. Thanks
Hi Federico, we had a rough time during the “rainy season” a lot of floods. However it’s already been nearly two weeks since it rained really hard. The sun has been giving us great weather. The mosquito situation is under control. No new Zika cases have been reported for a while now. There is nothing to be worried about. Enjoy your vacation, Federico:)
I was in Aruba in the Palm Beach Section (Divi Phoenix Resort) from Nov 15-20th. I was bitten and my husband as well a few times during our trip, prob 1-3 times each day, mostly at dusk or at night while watching the sunset on the beach in front of the hotel or in the pool area. We also were bit during dinner at Madame Jeanette’s, which in inland a bit. They were definitely mosquitos, alhough i can’t say for sure that they were/weren’t Aedes Aegypti type. Either way, we returned home to U.S. and did not experience any sympotms of Zika. Its been two months and we are just considering trying for a new baby now, although the recommendation is 6 months, but i feel like since Aruba’s rate of infection has been quite low, we will be okay. Aruba was wonderful trip, just wish we hadn’t experienced ANY mosquitos, but it is a tropical island nontheless.
Hi Jamie,
Thank you for sharing your experience – it really shows you can visit Aruba without mosquitoes being a big factor.
Hi! I am 3 months pregnant now and will be 5 months pregnant in April 2017 for my sister’s destination wedding. Should I go to the wedding? She is my sister… but this is also my baby. I don’t want to risk anything happening to the baby. We will be staying at the Hilton Aruba Carribean resort. If the risk is almost Zilch, I would love to go. What would you do?
Hi,
I would still go, because there hasn’t been any recent cases of zika in Aruba (for a while now already). The government is doing a lot of spraying around Aruba ta combat mosquito breeding grounds. I’m not saying there aren’t any mosquitoes, so just avoid places with standing water due to rain, wear long sleeves as much as possible and bring a good mosquito repellent you will be fine.
Have fun in Aruba,
Regards,
Angelo
Thanks! I’m pregnant as well (9 weeks). We’ve had this trip planned for a year, coming end of March. Completely forgot about the Zika up until yesterday. Do you have the link to the number of recently reported cases? I figure if I cover myself in deet from head to toe and only go out during the day I should be fine. Also, do you have more information on the spraying? I was going to call down there and ask them to spray lol. The other thing to consider is that some people are probably sexually spreading this, how can they tell if it’s from the mosquitoe?
Hi Ash.
I’m trying to get pregnant.. and also thinking about going to Aruba in May. Can you please let us know about your experience now that you go at the end of this month?? I hope you don’t encounter any mosquitoes whatsoever..and of course no zika.. good luck!! Take care. Thx.
Hii Ash! Yes….Please let us know! I just found out that we’re expecting and I have a trip planned for a July wedding but want to know if it’s worth the risk. I’m dying to go but my husband is worried. Please let us know and have fun, I love Aruba! Thanks!
We have, and loved, Aruba for 3 years in a row. We did not go since the Sitka virus scare, however.
I have ALWAYS noticed, though, large standing bodies/puddles(?!) of water on the main road, say, from the large Dutch grocery store to, say, the Palm Beach area! I always ask my husband, ” did it rain THAT much to produce such a large puddle of water?!” (Highway 2 a or 2b heading north!)? On the right and left of that road. I was always looking for birds that might be standing in the water, so I always was looking at them. And, In front of our hotel, the Amsterdam Manor Beach Hotel, there are always mosquitoes ready for a snack on our bodies! So I put two and two together and was wondering if those big puddles of water still exist and we were very nervous about ANY /ALL mosquitos bites!
Hi Kat,
I know what you mean. The thing is we don’t have a good road gutter system for the water when it rains in Aruba. It usually just stays there, for a long while…
But you should consider coming again, because the risk isn’t that big as you think.
Sunny Regards,
Angelo
My Fiance and I have been looking forward to spending our Honeymoon in Aruba ever since we got engaged in March of 2016. We had planned to come in the middle of June 2017 right after our wedding. However, our concern is that with children in both our hearts for the near future we are worried that we may need to cancel our plan. What are the mosquito populations like in June? Have there still not been any cases in recent months?
Hi Angelo! So I decided to go to My sister’s wedding in Aruba next week. Ahhhh! Jk. Thank you for your advice. I will be 22 wks along. I have my doctor’s support. He said ‘wear Deet and wear long sleeves when you can. And everything will be fine. Enjoy it!’ So that’s what I plan on doing. I will let you all know how it goes. I plan on Kung Fu’ing any mosquitoes that come my way! Take that, Aedes Aegypti! Thanks Angelo and everyone!
We are thinking about taking a trip to Aruba next month but I am very concerned about zika as we are trying to get pregnant. Can you please update me on the current amount of confirmed cases? It seems like the number has gone up drastically according to this site. http://www2.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=35328&Itemid=270&lang=en
If there were only 4 cases a while ago, i would risk it. But it looks like there have been many more cases recently. Can you confirm?
Hello Michelle,
Yes it’s true, two months ago, the total cases were almost 300 confirmed! I would seriously reconsider coming here. I think it would be on the safer side to get pregnant, have the baby and a year after or so come to Aruba. There will be plenty new things for you to enjoy by then.
Good luck!
Sunny Regards!
Hi Angelo,
My wife and I were in Aruba in mid-end of Feb. we came home and 6 weeks later were surprised to find out we are expecting. We are obviously going to get tested for Zika, as I recall a number of mosquitoes buzzing around me early mornings – 5AM.
I have been trying to get statistics to gage the number of Zika cases in Aruba since Jan 2017, and if there have been any reported cases of microcephaly. If you have a “go to” source that you can share, that would be great.
Thanks!
Hi Dan,
Congratulations!
There have been about 2 confirmed cases with pregnant women here in Aruba. But the last update I heard is that the babies didn’t show any signs of microcephaly yet. If you want to ask someone that knows more about the situations check out Aruba’s department of public health contact page – http://www.despa.gov.aw/index.php/contact-us the home page also has very great info on Zika. I advise you to get tested, but I don’t think you have zika, because you didn’t show any signs of it in the first place. Those mosquitoes in the morning were probably harmless 🙂
Good luck and enjoy your healthy bundle of joy!
Sunny Regards,
Angelo Limon
Hi Angelo,
I am getting married in July and my fiance and I have everything booked to come to Aruba for our honeymoon and now I am worried. Are there any updates on numbers of people infected by the Zika virus?
Thank you!
Hello Maria,
The minster of public health didn’t mention the exact amount of cases at the moment during a recent interview, but he did say that it is well below the minimum – which means, you will be fine! Congratulations! Enjoy your marriage in Aruba!
Sunny Regards,
Angelo Limon
we just booked our trip for end of May, friday when i checked the site these new comments were not up regarding concern of so many cases. the CDC doesnt give much info at all. so i went ahead and booked. Now worried since we are all booked and coming with our one year old, but more so concerned because this fall we will be trying for baby #2. Ive been to aruba 3 other times and think have only seen a mosquito once. any tips as to how to avoid the mosquitos in the sense of avoiding in land? eating outside? etc we will wear deet for sure. what is the peak time for mosquiotes (dusk i know is a big one)
i also read somewhere that aruba imported a lot of dragonflies to help eat up the mosquitoes is this true? Im really concerned and debating if to cancel my trip now and take the huge financial hit of canceling 🙁
is the island doing anything like spraying to help knock down the mosquitoes? the link about drops off data as of week 5 of 2017, what has been reported since then?
Hi everyone! I went to Aruba on Apr 18-Apr 23 for my sister’s wedding. I was 22 wks pregnant at the time. Doc said I could go as long as I applied DEET. I chose 25% DEET because I heard anything less than 30% is safe for the baby. So I stayed away from 98% DEET products. We stayed at the Hilton but ventured out to eat at night (we went to El Faro Blanco and El Gaucho). There were NO MOSQUITOS during the day. I also didn’t experience any at night. I did get bit once, by the Hilton pool at 6:15pm. I was so upset. ‘What have I don’t to the baby?’, was all that kept going through my head. But I tried to think positive. I heard there are more chances of getting Zika in Miami than in Aruba. I took the Zika test on Monday 5/8 and I got the results back on Friday 5/12. NEGATIVE for Zika. I was so RELIEVED. Loved Aruba but I would not have gone if it wasn’t my sister’s wedding. Airlines/Hotels should understand. Wouldn’t want anyone to go through the fear I went through after getting bit (and by the way, NOBODY else on my family got bit except me, the prego who was applying DEET). Figures. Good luck to all in whatever you decide!
Hello! My husband and I just returned from Aruba 2 days ago and had a great time. We plan on trying to get pregnant in a couple of months and I totally forgot about Zika until we got back and I happened to see an article about it. We only got bit by mosquitoes a few times at night while eating at Zeerovers. We stayed in Savaneta away from the hotel area. Should I be concerned? Are there any recent cases?
Thanks!
Hi Kristin,
There hasn’t been anything no the news regarding zika cases on the island, don’t be concerned about that. Just to be sure, and give you clarity, I would go to the doctor and get tested, you and your husband. I’m sure you’ll find out everything is okay. Congratulations with your baby 🙂 Angelo
Hello Zach,
There’s no Zika outbreak or anything in Aruba for a while now. You should be totally fine, bring some mosquito repellent just in case you run into a few mosquitoes.
Regards,
Angelo
Hello!
We are thinking of travelling to Aruba and staying at the Holiday Inn area. I am concerned about Zika as we are trying to have a baby. Can you pleas confirm Is there any new cases of Zika now in July 2017 ? Is it safe to travel? The concern falls due to CDC and WHO is not clear on their stats for Aruba. Safety comes first. It’s been mentioned that the mosquitoes that you should be concerned with are during the Day for Zika.
Thanks for your help!
Jo