Take three weeks of mosquito precautions after you get home

Advice about Zika for travellers is organised by **the risk classification of
the place you are going**, and there are four categories:

Work out which category your destination falls into first; the recommendations
follow from that rather than from the destination itself.

The instruction that is not about you

**People returning to the United States from an area with an active Zika
Travel Health Notice, or with current or past transmission, should take steps
to prevent mosquito bites for 3 weeks — even if they do not feel sick.**

The reason is the direction of transmission. An infected traveller who is
bitten at home can pass Zika to local mosquitoes, which can then pass it
to other people. Three weeks of repellent after a holiday is a public health
measure taken on behalf of your neighbours, and it applies to people with no
symptoms at all — which is most people with Zika.

This is how local transmission gets established in a country that did not have
it.

Two other things to know

Zika spreads through sex, and **the timeframes for men and women are
different**, because the virus persists in semen longer than in other body
fluids.

If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, talk to your provider about
your potential risk, the possible effects of Zika infection on a baby, and how
to protect yourself — before travelling, while the destination is still a
choice.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.