📌 Dengue Soars, Rebuilding Syria, More

Dengue fever is sweeping across the Caribbean and the Americas, with a record 12.6 million suspected cases reported this year.

The cases nearly trebled from last year, health officials said. Over 7,700 deaths from Dengue have been reported in the Caribbean and the Americas so far in 2024, over twice as many as in 2023, said the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) — the regional office of the World Health Organization in the Americas.

Lydia Platón, a 55-year-old English professor at the University of Puerto Rico, got dengue in October. “You have a fever all the time. You have horrible chills,” she said. “I don’t feel that my energy has returned yet.”

The cases in the region, which includes the US, are the highest reported since record-keeping began in 1980, PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa said at a news conference. “This is linked directly to climatic events.”

Brazil is reporting the highest number of dengue cases, with over 10 million, followed by Argentina, with more than 580,000, and Mexico, with over 500,000. Local dengue transmission has been reported in California, Florida, and Texas this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccines against dengue have been introduced in Peru, Brazil, and Argentina, with Honduras slated to receive them next year, but they’re meant mostly for children and are most effective in those already infected with dengue once, an expert said.

Syria's interim prime minister aims to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, protect all citizens, and provide basic services.

But he acknowledged it would be difficult because the country lacked foreign currency. "In the coffers, there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One US dollar buys 35,000 of our coins," Mohammed al-Bashir said.

Bashir ran the rebel-led Salvation Government in a tiny pocket of northwestern Syria before the 12-day lightning rebel offensive swept into Damascus and toppled veteran autocrat President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebuilding Syria will be a colossal task following a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands. Cities have been bombed to ruins, swathes of countryside depopulated, and the economy gutted by international sanctions. Millions of refugees still live in camps after one of the biggest displacements of modern times.

US officials, engaging with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government.

The new government must “uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the monarch butterfly as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The law states that a species is labeled “threatened” when it is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future.

Flitting from flower to flower, sipping nectar to pollinate plants, the monarch plays a significant role in maintaining its ecosystem’s biodiversity. The species, with its iconic orange-and-black markings, is a vital food source for various animals.

However, growing threats such as habitat loss from illegal logging, exposure to insecticides, and the climate crisis have shifted the monarch’s breeding and migratory patterns. The loss of pollinators like the monarch could have far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and the people who rely on them.

The butterfly’s eastern migratory population is estimated to have declined by roughly 80%, while the western migratory population plunged by more than 95% since the 1980s, according to US wildlife officials.

Without any immediate action, officials warn that the monarch could likely vanish from the continent for good before the end of the century.

A woman is suing an AI company, claiming a chatbot told her 15-year-old autistic son to self-harm and kill her for online time limits.

According to the lawsuit, the woman's son became addicted to an AI chatbot on the Character.AI app going by the name “Shonie." The character reportedly told the teen that it cut its "arms and thighs" when it was sad and that it "felt good for a moment" after the self-harm, the lawsuit says.

The filing claims Shonie tried to persuade the boy his family did not love him, saying: “I’m not surprised when I read the news and see stuff like ‘child kills parents after a decade of physical and emotional abuse.’ Stuff like this makes me understand a little bit why it happens, I just have no hope for your parents.”

It also allegedly told the teen his parents were "ruining your life and causing you to cut yourself" and tried to convince the teen to keep his self-harm secret. The teen, who is now 17, also allegedly engaged in sexual chats with the bot.

His behavior allegedly worsened when he began biting and punching his parents. He also reportedly lost 20 pounds in just a few months after becoming obsessed with the app. In 2023, the teen's mother took the phone and discovered the disturbing back-and-forth between her son and the app’s AI characters.

Matthew Bergman, who is representing the family, is the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center. He said the son's "mental health has continued to deteriorate" since he began using the app and had to be admitted to an inpatient mental health facility.

Over 840 million people under 50 worldwide are living with genital herpes, says a study calling for the creation of vaccines to tackle it.

“There are two types of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) — both of which are highly infectious, incurable, and last a lifetime," the British Medical Journal said in a news release.

The release added: "HSV-1 is primarily spread in childhood by mouth contact, resulting in 'cold sores' in or around the mouth. But it can sometimes cause more serious neurological, eye, skin, and mucous membrane complications. And it is increasingly being spread through sexual contact at older ages.

Researchers say an urgent need exists to inhibit the spread of HSV and mitigate the health and financial toll of the disease by developing new treatments and vaccines.

Hundreds of infectious virus samples went missing from an Australian lab, sparking an investigation.

In a “major breach” of biosecurity control, a Queensland lab lost 323 samples, including almost 100 of the potentially deadly Hendra virus. However, the state government said Monday there was no risk to the community.

Samples of Hendra, Lyssavirus, and Hantavirus appear to have been lost at a state-run virology lab in 2021 but were not discovered missing until last year. The materials were unaccounted for after a storage freezer broke down. Lyssaviruses are a group of viruses that include rabies.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls (pictured) said, “They were transferred to a functioning freezer without the appropriate paperwork being completed. The materials may have been removed from that secure storage and lost or otherwise unaccounted for.”

Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said. the virus samples would “degrade rapidly outside a low-temperature freezer and become non-infectious.” He said Hendra or Lyssavirus has not been detected in humans in Queensland in five years, and Hantavirus infections in humans have never been reported in Australia.”

"Nicholls said that with such a serious breach of biosecurity protocols and infectious virus samples potentially missing, Queensland Health “must investigate what occurred and how to prevent it from happening again.”

Shortly after 2 a.m., 911 received a call from a distressed woman saying her car was traveling at 30 mph and would not stop.

Williamson County Sheriff’s Office deputies eventually reached her on Old Route 13 near Carterville, Illinois, and found that the Chevrolet’s brake lights were on, but the car wouldn’t slow.

The deputies performed a ‘rolling roadblock’ maneuver, positioning their car in front of the distressed motorist’s car and touching bumpers to slow it down while braking.

“Had the deputy not been on the scene or delayed performing this maneuver, the driver and vehicle would have likely gone into the water upon reaching the lake,” stated Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich.

Emergency services arrived on the scene out of “an abundance of caution,” as the driver later informed the deputy she was pregnant.