Craigavon mum-to-be cancels dream holiday over Zika virus fears

Hannah Sewell from Craigavon had booked and paid for her holiday to Las Vegas and Mexico long before she ever dreamed she would become pregnant.

However, her joy at discovering she and her partner John Moore were about to become parents turned into a nightmare when the Zika virus broke out.

The World Health Organisation has declared a global public health emergency and is probing why the Zika virus could be causing a devastating spike in cases of babies being born with underdeveloped brains in South America.

And the nightmare got worse when she initially struggled to get a refund on her 10-day trip from travel firm American Holidays.

Hannah explained that when she discovered a few weeks ago that she was pregnant, she immediately informed her travel agent and voiced concerns about going to central America given the epidemic Zika virus.

“There is no way I was going to go over there and put my baby in any danger,” said the 29-year-old.

Hannah and her partner booked the holiday last year and had no idea that she would get pregnant or that there would be this dangerous virus.

“We normally go on budget breaks but for the first time we decided to pull out all the stops and go on a proper five-star holiday,” she said.

They booked four days in Las Vegas and six days in the luxury resort of Cancun and were due to fly out in March.

However, news of Zika put paid to the dream and Hannah wanted her money back.

She went to her travel agent in Lurgan but there appeared to be issues about American Holidays refunding their money.

Hannah contacted the Lurgan Mail and after discussions with her travel agent and American Holidays, the firm finally decided to refund the mum-to-be her money.