When the sun is out after a long winter, every one loves it. But not the people of Canary Islands. Tourists there are being warned about the "unusually high risk" of UV rays this week. The Ministry of Health for this holiday destination has urged both, residents and visitors to take extra precautions and preventative measures to limit the impact of sun exposure over their body and skin.

The Ministry observed Aemet, Spain's national weather agency for the forecast which showed higher than normal UV or ultraviolet radiation levels in the region. It is in this backdrop that everyone in the region are requested to be extra careful when they are out in the sun. UV levels are set to reach 7, which is a 'high risk' in La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera and Gran Canaria. Other regions like Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are expected to reach a level 6, which is also classed as 'high risk'.

UV Index Explained

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), a UV index is a measure of the level of UV radiation, which ranges from zero upward. The higher the UVI, the greater potential for damage to skin and eye and the less time it takes for harm to occur, notes WHO.

The range 1 to 2 represents a low risk, 2 to 5 is moderate, 6 to 7 is at high risk, 8 to 10 is at very high and anything over 11 is extremely risky for anyone to stay out.

UV radiation levels fluctuate throughout the day, with the highest values occurring during the four-hour period around solar noon. The reported UV Index (UVI) typically reflects this daily peak. Depending on geographic location and the use of daylight saving time, solar noon falls between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. In some countries, sun protection advisories are issued when UV levels are expected to reach 3 or higher, as exposure at these levels increases the risk of skin damage, making protective measures essential.

What happens to you when you are out in sun for too long?

While sun bathing is good, being out in the sun when the UVI indicates a high or very high risk, may cause you health concerns. It can lead to sunburn, premature skin aging, incresed risk of skin cancer, eye damage and in severe cases, heat related disease.

Sunburn

It is one of the most common skin injury which happens when there is excess exposure to UV radiation from the sun. This happens when the UV radiation directly damages the DNA skin cells. These damaged cells die and shed, this is why people experience peeling after getting a sunburn.

Dehydration

This is also a common occurrence when your body loses too many fluids or electrolytes. It can also interfere with your normal body functions. You may feel dehydrated, especially when you are out in the sun, but not well hydrated. The most common symptoms are dizziness, fatigue and headache on hot days.

Hyponatremia

This is an electrolyte disorder in which your body experiences low sodium in blood. The symptoms could lead to nausea, confusion and even weakness. There are extreme cases when one may have seizures, slip into coma or die.

Heat Exhaustion

This is one of the most common consequence of being out under the hot sun. Dehydration with prolonged heat exposure can lead to heat exhaustion.

Heatstroke

When you are out under the sun and your body's core temperature cross 104°, heatstroke may occur. This is also known as sunstroke. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it causes more than 600 deaths each year in the United States.

Countries across Europe, Africa, and South America are tracing contacts of passengers linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship hantavirus outbreak after multiple deaths and suspected human-to-human infections raised global concern. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the risk of a Covid-like global spread remains low.

The latest hantavirus outbreak has so far infected eight people, including three deaths, among the 150 people aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The Andes strain of hantavirus, which can spread from person to person, has been identified in two people who disembarked from the cruise ship.

While hantavirus carries a mortality rate of up to 40 percent, the WHO stated that the overall global risk remains low.

More than two dozen passengers left the ship before learning they may have been exposed to the virus. Countries are now tracing them to prevent potential spread to the general public. The virus can spread through close contact, as seen in the MV Hondius cases.

According to WHO official Shenaaz El-Halabi, authorities are tracing passengers linked to an international flight and the cruise ship, involving 16 countries and dozens of contacts.

More than 60 percent of identified contacts have already been followed up on, while investigations continue using epidemiological and laboratory data.

Hantavirus: A Look At Countries Tracing Contacts

US

At least 23 passengers from the hantavirus-affected MV Hondius cruise ship returned home, including several to the United States — and one of them has already fallen ill.

The travelers reportedly did not know they had been exposed to the deadly virus when they disembarked during the ship’s stop at Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, on April 23.

“There are 23 people wandering around there, and until three days ago, no one had contacted them,” a passenger still aboard the ship told the Spanish newspaper, El País.

“The Australian went back to Australia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes… I don’t remember the rest,” the passenger added.

People in at least three US states — Georgia, Arizona, and California — are being monitored for possible hantavirus exposure after the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, though none have shown symptoms, according to the New York Times.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said it is monitoring two residents who “are currently in good health and show no signs of infection.”

The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed that one resident who traveled on the ship is being monitored and is not symptomatic.

“There is no information that California residents are ill or infected. At this time, the risk to public health in California is low,” Robert Barsanti, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, said.

According to Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Hantavirus is not spread by people without symptoms, transmission requires close contact, and the risk to the American public is very low.”

UK

According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the operator of MV Hondius, 19 passengers and four crew members aboard the ship were British nationals.

One of them, a 56-year-old British man, was among the three passengers evacuated from the ship on Wednesday and is reported to be in stable condition.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said two British nationals are self-isolating at home after potential exposure to hantavirus on the cruise ship. The pair had disembarked earlier in the voyage and currently shows no symptoms.

UKHSA said contacts linked to their return journey, including passengers on a flight from Johannesburg, are being traced. The agency added that the risk to the general public remains very low.

Switzerland

Swiss officials are tracing the contacts of a man hospitalized in Zurich with the Andes strain of hantavirus, according to reports.

The patient became ill after returning from a three-week April cruise that traveled from the southern tip of South America to the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.

The authorities said the patient’s wife has not shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution.

Argentina

Health investigators in Argentina believe a Dutch couple may have brought the virus aboard after possibly contracting it through rodent exposure during a bird-watching tour near a landfill in Ushuaia days before the ship departed from Argentina on March 20. Both the husband and wife later died.

Argentina has one of the highest reported incidences of hantavirus in Latin America, according to the WHO. Authorities there are continuing efforts to trace the source of the outbreak.

The Argentine Health Ministry reported 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025 — roughly double the number reported during the previous year, according to The Guardian.

Radiation and chemotherapy might be lifesaving for millions of children globally, but the cost of these intense therapies is much greater. Therapies like these spike the risk of infertility in adulthood — one third of men on these treatments are considered 'azoospermic' after pube—onehis means that when they ejaculate, it lacks any viable sperm. But on the bright side, a medical team at the University Hospital Brussels and the Free University of Brussels (VUB) found that they successfully restored sperm production in one such patient.

How to preserve fertility in men after chemotherapy?

In a new case study, which is now in peer review, researchers explained how they treated a male patient with no viable sperm by retransplanting his own childhood testicular tissue into his adult testicle. The anonymous patient was born with sickle cell anaemia, an inherited disease that can be managed with small chemotherapy doses or through a donated bone marrow transplant. In 2008, before the treatment, the patient's family consented to the removal of one of his testicles and had it frozen for future use. The patient was 10 years old at the time.

Later, in 2022, the patient returned to Brussels IVF at VUB hoping to become a father. However, it was found that there was no viable sperm in his testicle. He requested a transplantation of the frozen tissue. In 2025, during the trial, he underwent surgery to receive four tissue grafts within his testicle and four in his scrotum. A year later, some of these produced motile, mature sperm. However, only the parts of the testicle with the transplants held viable sperm — and these were not connected to the patient's sperm duct. The sperm, therefore, was not likely to reach his semen. Consequently, IVF was the only option for the patient to have a baby — but the silver lining was that, if he wanted a baby, it was possible.

What is sperm banking?

According to doctors, adults who undergo radiation and chemotherapy must undergo sperm banking in the conventional way. However, before puberty, patients are not fit for freezing sperm, as the body is not producing mature sperm yet. In childhood, the testicles contain spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) — these have the potential to become sperm later. Freezing this tissue could be a way to preserve fertility in younger patients who are prone to infertility.

The University Hospital Brussels became the first-ever hospital to introduce this practice in 2022. Years later, other hospitals followed suit and offered cryopreservation for over 3,000 boys globally. The samples collected were banked for future studies and research to determine whether the approach is, in fact, viable or not. For many patients, it is the only way to restore existing fertility. Although a single patient is not enough to prove that the procedure works, the Brussels story offers hope for men dealing with infertility.

Is there a downside?

Animal studies have found that the grafts have a shorter lifespan. However, how long they can last in humans is still unknown; furthermore, researchers are yet to ascertain whether these sperm can lead to healthy babies. This step is important for further research on preserving fertility.

In a bid to address ‘overuse’ of psychiatric medications, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr has launched a new plan that aims to promote appropriate psychiatric prescribing and drive deprescribing when clinically indicated.

Kennedy announced the efforts to curb psychiatric overprescribing at a MAHA Institute summit on mental health and overmedicalization.

“Today, we take clear and decisive action to confront our nation’s mental health crisis by addressing the overuse of psychiatric medications—especially among children,” said Kennedy.

“We will support patient autonomy, require informed consent and shared decision-making, and shift the standard of care toward prevention, transparency, and a more holistic approach to mental health,” he added.

Agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are collaborating to leverage their collective expertise and align their efforts to evaluate prescription patterns for psychiatric medications, their benefits and potential harms, and to elevate the role of non-medication treatments and scalable, evidence-based solutions to improve mental health.

The HHS has planned a multipronged approach, including education and outreach, program and policy actions, and research-to-practice efforts, to prevent the unnecessary initiation of psychiatric medications and support the tapering and discontinuation for patients not experiencing clinical benefit.

Also read: Ibogaine: Why Donald Trump Is Pushing US FDA To Fast-track This Psychedelic

SSRI's The Main Target

The initiative focuses on the most widely prescribed class of psychiatric medications, first-line treatments for depression and anxiety that include Zoloft, Lexapro, Paxil and Prozac. In 2025, 16.6 percent of U.S. adults, or roughly one in six, reported currently taking an SSRI, the New York Times reported.

SSRIs—short for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors—are among the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the world. The drugs work by increasing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in mood regulation, emotional processing, and impulse control. By preventing serotonin from being reabsorbed too quickly, SSRIs maintain higher levels of the chemical in the brain, which can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety for many patients.

Like any medication, SSRIs come with side effects—such as nausea, sexual dysfunction, and insomnia—but they are generally considered safe and effective when prescribed appropriately.

Experts Welcome But Raise Concerns Over Gap

Psychiatry experts have welcomed the new federal efforts toward improving psychiatric healthcare. They also raised concerns, including potential overemphasis on overprescribing, while access to mental healthcare remains inadequate.

Deprescribing “simply means that if any treatment is not proving itself to be beneficial, or if problems with tolerability substantially outweigh efficacy, it makes sense to discontinue that treatment and replace it with a more effective viable alternative,” said Dr. Joseph F. Goldberg, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, CNN reported.

Dr. Theresa Miskimen Rivera, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), said the group supports the administration’s plans for further investment, research, and clinical training.

“However, we do have an issue with the framing of mental health as a primary problem of overmedicalization,” Rivera added. “This type of characterization really oversimplifies a very complex, larger issue.”

Read More: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Denies Link To Measles Outbreak At Senate Hearing

“This oversimplification of our mental health does not take into account things like persistent workforce shortages, limited psychiatric beds, inadequate visit time, barriers to psychotherapy and social support, and insufficient integration of psychiatric expertise in primary care,” added Rivera, who is also a clinical professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.