Heather Owens was set to jet off to Cancun. Then she heard about the Zika virus.
Twenty-one weeks pregnant, the Atlanta project manager wasted no time cancelling the all-expenses paid trip, which she won through her company for job performance.
“The risk that it would cause a deformity (in my baby), which I would have to live with forever, was not worth it,” Owens told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If I would even see a mosquito flying around me, I would panic.”
U.S. health officials have warned pregnant women to postpone trips to countries where the virus has been spreading since last May. Zika is suspected to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes brain damage and abnormally small heads.
Georgia will almost certainly see cases of the Zika virus, health officials said. And experts warned the state may have a higher risk of the illness spreading.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently testing specimens from several Georgia residents with travel history to the affected areas.
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