'19 Kids and Counting' Jill Duggar, Derick Dillard Receive Flak for Poking Fun at Zika Virus Threat

By Ann Dee
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard
Picture of Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard taken on Dec. 2015. "Counting On" star Jill Duggar-Dillard recently shared a post on her family's official website, letting her fans know that a close friend of hers had met an unfortunate fate after getting murdered in El Salvador. Instagram

 "19 Kids and Counting" stars Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard are now receiving flak for joking about the serious Zika virus. The two are currently in Central America on a mission trip so many are worried about the possibility of Jill being affected by the virus. It seems though that they are not taking the threat seriously.

Derick recently took to his Instagram account and posted a photo of him holding a can of OFF! bug spray alongside a snapshot of a Central American branch of Walmart. While the photo was innocent enough, it was the caption that caught the ire of the netizens. "I knew I could count on Walmart to have what I need to combat that Zika Virus! #beprepared #zika," he captioned the photo.

I knew I could count on Walmart to have what I need to combat that Zika Virus! #beprepared #zika

A photo posted by Derick Dillard (@derickdillard) on Feb 26, 2016 at 1:23pm PST

According to Inquisitr, the photo showed that contrary to previous rumors, the couple is still in El Salvador. The supermarket shown in the photo was La Despensa, the trade name that Walmart operates in under El Salvador.

Regardless, since the virus already affected so many, with the World Health Organization calling it a global health crisis, many believe that the reality stars were quite irresponsible for joking about the virus. His post garnered him a lot of critics, with some calling him dumb. Others brought up the issue of them not holding "real" jobs to support their family, relying instead on their TLC show.

A month ago, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued travel warnings across 22 states, especially for pregnant women. The virus is linked to microcephaly, a condition where infants are born with abnormally-sized heads, affecting their developmental capacities. 

This is not the first time the two have been criticized, though, no matter if they are already in the completely different region. Ever since "19 Kids and Counting" was canceled, moving to El Salvador to do missionary work did not save Jill and Derick from criticisms that their family have been receiving for the controversies Josh Duggar created. According to Hollywood Gossip, Jill and Derik, in particular, were accused of trying to scam fans into donating money in the name of missionary work, bashed because of the Instagram posts of their baby, and gossiped about left and right, especially on the rumor of Jill being pregnant again. 

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