Malaria is a serious illness transmitted by the bite of an infective mosquito. Pregnant women traveling to Africa, Central and South America, parts of the Caribbean, Asia (including South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East), Eastern Europe, and the South Pacific may be at risk for this potentially deadly disease.
All travelers to areas with malaria transmission, including pregnant women, should protect themselves from malaria by taking an antimalarial drug and by preventing mosquito bites. Despite the risk, most travelers can avoid becoming ill with malaria by taking these precautions.
Caution: Travel to a Malaria Risk-area During Pregnancy is NOT Recommended
During your pregnancy, you should not travel to an area with malaria unless travel cannot be postponed. If you get malaria, you may become more ill than a woman who is not pregnant would become.
Malaria is a major risk to your pregnancy. The very high fevers, shaking chills, and rigors that occur with malaria frequently cause premature birth, miscarriage, and stillbirth.
If you must travel, take an antimalarial drug (a drug to prevent malaria) and prevent mosquito bites to reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of developing malaria. Your health care provider will need to prescribe your antimalarial drug. Another section below has information on preventing mosquito bites.
Experience with the recommended antimalarial drugs indicate that they are safe to take while pregnant—safer for you and your pregnancy than getting malaria would be. Depending on which countries you will travel to, your health care provider will recommend either chloroquine or mefloquine. Experience with chloroquine and limited experience with mefloquine indicates that they are safe to take during pregnancy, including the first trimester.
Pregnant women should NOT take the following antimalarial drugs: atovaquone/proguanil, doxycycline, or primaquine. These drugs are either not safe to take during pregnancy or we don't currently have enough information to judge their safety.
