Santa Maria woman tested for possible Zika virus

What was supposed to be a beautiful honeymoon for a Santa Maria woman instead turned into a painful experience after she says a few dozen mosquitoes bit her, causing rashes all over her body.

Tonight, more concern after doctors told her she could possibly have the Zika virus. Still in pain, she sat down exclusively with KCOY 12 Central Coast News.

“So I got married on the 31st of July ,” Santa Maria resident Jessica Davis said.

Jessica Davis and her husband just celebrated their honeymoon in Costa Rica.

“When we landed there were signs for Zika,” Jessica Davis said.

Davis says she and her husband made sure to apply mosquito repellent.

“He didn’t get really bit, maybe twice at the most, um I’m covered,” Jessica Davis said.

They got back to Santa Maria this past Saturday.

“I was scared, especially when the rashes started,” Davis said.

By Sunday , Davis says she’s never felt so sick.

“I just started feeling like a really stiff neck, kind of fever, chills not really feeling too good, headache and from there I just started getting worse and worse and worse,” Davis said.

Worse – to the tune of a 103 degree temperature. She went and got tested at a hospital in San Luis Obispo.

“They said everything indicated that it was pointing towards Zika,” Davis said.

Davis will get her lab results in three weeks.

“It’s important for people to get tested if they’ve been exposed,” Dr. Charity Dean with the Santa Barbara County Health Department said.

Dr. Charity Dean with the Santa Barbara County Health Department says pregnant woman and their unborn children are at high risk when traveling outside of the United States.

“Women who are returning from travel that have plans to get pregnant need to look at the map on the Centers for Disease Control website and see if they’ve traveled to an area that has Zika virus,” Dean said.

Davis says she’s starting to feel better.

“I can’t wait to go back to work, I miss my friends, it’s been hard,” Davis said.

She says she just wants to get the word out.

“Wear the bug repellent, especially in the mosquito zones, because you always think it’s not going to happen to me,” Davis said.