Drama on vacation Pregnant woman loses her baby after mosquito bite

A pregnant woman has lost her baby after being bitten by a mosquito while on vacation. She contracted the Zika virus in Thailand.

A Danish woman was in the eighth to tenth week of pregnancy when she and her partner traveled to the Thai province around Phuket. According to the German newspaper "Bild", the couple always had mosquito repellent with them - and yet the insects could not be kept away completely.

The woman was bitten by mosquitoes and after two weeks was struggling with more and more problems. At first she felt unwell, tired, nauseous and had a loss of appetite, followed by a rash on her arms, legs, breastbone and other parts of her body.

Zika virus led to deformities in the baby

In Denmark, a routine prenatal examination in the eleventh week of pregnancy was still unremarkable, but the tide turned dramatically during a growth examination in the 26th week of pregnancy.

Blood type and beer consumption are decisiveMosquitoes particularly like to fly on this blood type

The baby's head was much smaller than it should have been. The pregnancy was terminated due to severe microcephaly (Greek for "small head"). The reason for the drama was ultimately traced back to the vacation in Thailand.

Laboratory tests revealed that large quantities of Zika viruses were present in the unborn child's head, but only a few in the mother's blood. The Zika virus is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and is widespread in parts of Asia, America, the Caribbean and Africa.

"The virus causes mild illness in most cases, but can be dangerous for pregnant women and is associated with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), including miscarriages and birth defects, especially if the mother is infected in the first trimester," explain experts from the US health authority CDC.

Children born with congenital zika syndrome have a significantly increased risk of death in the first years of life.