Illinois Woman Speaks about being Pregnant and Contracting Zika

(WGN) An Illinois woman traveled overseas when she returned she was diagnosed with the Zika virus.

The trip came before the virus was well-known in the US.

She is just one of three confirmed cases of Zika in Illinois.

The woman, who was pregnant at the time of her diagnosis, spoke to reporter Sean Lewis

It was a holiday vacation to Honduras, visiting family when Samantha Mejia and her husband Omar first heard about Zika virus.

"Every cousin, every aunt, uncle we visited everybody told us 'oh my cousin has it, oh my aunt has it,” Samantha Mejia, Diagnosed with Zikus said.

They did take precautions, with bug spray and such, and they had a good time.

"But it wasn't until they came back that they started to hear things on the news and then it was the following week she that I had flu-like symptoms."

The next day, a rash. then broke out in a rash. she went to the doctor and a blood check that went all the way to the CDC  confirmed the diagnosis.

"Once the symptoms went away, I personally felt fine, the only issue is I was pregnant at the time I was in Honduras," Samantha Mejia, Diagnosed with Zikus said.

"We went in for our first ultrasound a few weeks later, and unfortunately, we had a miscarriage. One of the things that has come out for us personally is that miscarriages are so heartbreakingly common that they might not ever know if the two were ever related or if it just happened to be a weird coincidence."

One this young couple seems to be at peace with for now. Her concern is now looking back at the place where family still lives.

"As Americans, our point right now is to help the people that are living there and they have nowhere to go and they need help getting the support for the woman that are pregnant now and don't really know what the future entails for them.

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