--- title: CDC Updates Zika Guidance to Prevent Birth Defects description: Women with Zika should wait eight weeks after symptom's start to try to conceive canonical: https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-25T19:57:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:14:03.799Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Updates Zika Guidance to Prevent Birth Defects og:description: Women with Zika should wait eight weeks after symptom's start to try to conceive og:url: https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Updates Zika Guidance to Prevent Birth Defects twitter:description: Women with Zika should wait eight weeks after symptom's start to try to conceive twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Wait 8 Weeks to Conceive If You Get Zika: Feds > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9d6c3ec-2569-4dd9-9b9c-ccf40303eb33&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 25, 2016 7:57 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 25, 2016 7:57 PM UTC Women with [Zika](http://time.com/4262743/zika-mosquitoes-usa/) should wait at least eight weeks after the start of their symptoms before trying to conceive, according to new federal recommendations. Men with Zika should wait six months after onset of symptoms before having unprotected sex. “Mounting evidence supports a link between Zika and microcephaly, a birth defect that is a sign of incomplete brain development, and possibly other problems such as miscarriage and stillbirth,” officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday. For men and women with possible exposure to Zika, federal authorities are recommending they wait eight weeks before attempting to get pregnant. The CDC is continuing to recommend that men who live or travel to an area with active Zika infection and have a pregnant partner use condoms or abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy. The agency also [released a report](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6512e1er.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6512e1er%5Fw) about increasing access to contraception in Puerto Rico. The CDC estimates that about 138,000 women in the country are at risk for unintended pregnancies and are not using some of the most effective forms of birth control. The Department of Health and Human Services is enhancing programs to improve contraceptive access. So far there have been 273 cases of Zika reported in 35 states in the U.S. and 261 cases reported in Puerto Rico. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/"},"headline":"Wait 8 Weeks to Conceive If You Get Zika: Feds","datePublished":"2016-03-25T19:57:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:14:03.799Z","description":"Women with Zika should wait before trying to get pregnant","url":"https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/","keywords":["Zika","Pregnancy","CDC","microcephaly"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4272558/wait-8-weeks-to-conceive-if-you-get-zika-feds/","name":"Wait 8 Weeks to Conceive If You Get Zika: Feds"}}]}] ```