cases

Earning more than 600,000 euros a year seemed like a rarity in Spain. The Treasury has already counted almost 19,000 cases

by

Twenty years ago, coming across someone who earned more than 600,000 euros a year was like the girls in Galicia: there are there there arebut it is difficult to find them. That exclusive club existed, but its members could fit on a city bus. Today a few are needed. According to data provided by the Tax Agency on the salary ranges of taxpayers in Spain, the highest incomes grow much faster than the rest of salaries. The jump that breaks the historical series. According to consolidated data for 2024, 18,829 taxpayers declared income from work above 601,000 euros annually. This figure represents a jump of 27.8% in a single year, and is the highest figure since the history of this series exists. Although almost 19,000 people receiving that annual salary may seem like a good figure, it is enough to put it in context to determine that they barely represent 0.08% of the almost 25 million declarations submitted that year. Since 2007, when the financial crisis broke out, this group has grown from 10,580 people to almost 19,000 today. It is an increase of close to 78% in less than two decades. Madrid, the magnet of large incomes. If this Treasury statistic confirms anything, it is that wealth is not distributed the same between territories. 8,278 of those 18,829 taxpayers live in the Community of Madrid. Catalonia follows, and specifically Barcelona, ​​with 4,040 taxpayers with a salary of more than 601,000 euros per year. These figures far exceed those offered by Andalusia, the Valencian Community or Galicia, which are the next in number of employees in the highest percentile. This concentration has an explanation beyond the location of the headquarters of large companies. As and how they stood out In the tax consultancy TaxDown, Madrid maintains, by far, the lower rates of autonomous personal income tax of Spain. Its maximum aggregate rate reaches 43.5%, compared to the 54% that can be paid in Catalonia or Valencia. Added to this is a Wealth Tax that has been practically canceled for years. This combination of tax cuts has been pointed out as a clear case of tax competition between communities (dumping), which helps attract large assets from other regions. The rest of the tax pyramid. It is advisable not to lose sight of what salary ranges the majority of workers in Spain really fall into. He largest section continues to be that of those who earn between 30,000 and 60,000 euros per year, concentrating 5.8 million people, 23.5% of the total filers. Just behind are the immediately lower ranks, those who charge between 21,000 and 30,000 euros (4.6 million) and between 12,000 and 21,000 euros (4 million). They are the salary brackets that, in practice, support the bulk of the country’s salary income collection. Although it does not represent an increase as spectacular as that of employees in the range above 601,000 euros per year, the growth in the number of taxpayers in the range between 150,000 euros per year and 600,000 euros also stands out. This group is made up of 194,681 taxpayers, which represents 0.79% of the total, but has experienced an increase of 20.9% in just one year. Action, reaction. This rebound in high incomes explains some data that until now seemed unconnected. According to data of the “World Wealth Report 2026” prepared by Capgemini, the number of large assets in the country has also increased by 5.3% in the last year. That is, according to the data in that report, the 13,100 new millionaires that Spain added, could be the same ones that in recent years have been added to the highest salary range recorded by the Treasury. In Xataka | “I am a millionaire and I don’t know what to do with my life”: a millionaire is looking for ideas because money has not given him happiness Image | Unsplash (Ru Dur, Mads Eneqvist)

“We are going to see more and more cases like this.” There are six mysterious spheres on a beach in Australia, and everything indicates that they came from space

by

In 1979, the Skylab space station disintegrated over Western Australia and left so many remains scattered across the land that the authorities of the town of Esperance decided to fine NASA with 400 Australian dollars for “littering.” The sanction began as a joke, but ended up becoming one of the most curious episodes in the history of space exploration. A discovery that no one expected. The residents of Forrest Beach, a small town in the Australian state of Queensland, first thought in a jokethen in an accident and there were even those who made jokes about UFOs. However, the appearance of six large metallic spheres on the shore ended up mobilizing firefighters, hazardous materials specialists and the Australian Space Agency. What seemed like a strange object dragged by the sea actually pointed towards an origin much more unusual. From space. The first inspections indicate that the spheres They are pressure vessels used in space rockets for store gases and propellants during launch or in-orbit operations. Although authorities are still working to definitively identify the vehicle from which they came, they consider that they are compatible with remains of a foreign launcher that recently re-entered the atmosphere. This hypothesis explains both their shape and the material with which they are made and the fact that several similar pieces appeared in the same coastal area. Space Balls. Experts believe that they could be the well-known like “space balls”spherical tanks made of titanium alloys capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures. Unlike most parts of a rocket, which often disintegrate during reentry, these containers can survive the heat and end up falling to Earth even years after release. In fact, they constitute one of the types of space debris that most frequently appear in different places on the planet. The real risk. Authorities apparently did not cordon off the beach for fear of a meteorite or an explosive device. The concern was that these deposits could retain hydrazine residuesan extremely toxic rocket fuel. For this reason, specialized teams recovered the spheres using protocols for hazardous materials and asked the population to will not manipulate any object similar that could appear in the coming days. More and more will fall. The incident also reflects a phenomenon much broader. More space launches have been carried out in the last five years than in the entire previous history of space exploration, which implies a parallel increase in the number of re-entries of rocket and satellite stages. Most of these remains end up disintegrating or falling into the ocean, but some especially resistant components they manage to survive and reach solid ground. Australia already knows it. Because it is not the first time that Australia has received an unexpected visit from space debris. In 1979, fragments of the Skylab space station fell on Western Australia and, in 2022, pieces identified as part of a capsule SpaceX Dragon. The difference is that the six Forrest Beach spheres arrived all together and aroused such curiosity that local businesses took advantage of the commotion to sell food boxes inspired by “space junk”. Between jokes about aliens and photographs for social networks, the episode has served to remind us that, with growing space activity, finding objects from the sky will probably become less and less exceptional. As ditch archaeologist Alice Gorman: “We are going to see more and more cases like this: the more rockets are launched, the more space debris there will be.” Image | Forrest Beach Takeaway In Xataka | The Milky Way is 10% larger than we thought, and we have discovered it by looking at explosions in other galaxies In Xataka | The only black hole in the Milky Way hid an unsolved mystery for astronomers. Until now

“The video game is unaffordable in many cases as we have traditionally conceived it”

by

Surely this is not the first time you have heard that the video game makes more money than cinema. That’s right, according to the data, although with certain nuances. However, the gaming industry is not having it easy right now, especially due to the situation with layoffs, the closure of studios, the component crisis or its difficulties in reaching a new audience. Opinions. Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Xbox, has opinions on the matter, and assures that traditional gaming has become inaccessible to many. His statements come at a particularly delicate time for his own company. And he is right, since the component crisis and the state of the industry in general is making it increasingly prohibitive to buy hardware or games. But on the other hand, it is worth remembering that Microsoft is precisely a company that also contributes to the very poor state of this industry. We have the last example in the latest increase in the price of its consoles. At the same time, it must also be said that we are at a point where we have more games (and very good ones) than ever, even titles that do not cost us any basic cost. The traditional video game is in danger. In an interview with Entertainment Weeklythe CEO of Xbox said that the video game “is unaffordable in many cases, as we have traditionally conceived it.” It’s not just about the price of hardware, but also, as she noted, “the economics of attention and the competition of subscriptions.” It is a sum of factors important enough to be expelling players from their favorite ecosystems. Although Xbox has many more problems than that. How is the panorama on Xbox. Sharma, who came from the world of AI, came to Xbox just a few months ago with no prior experience in the video game industry. That caused some rejection on social networks, but your first decisionsas recover Xbox name for Microsoft’s gaming division, give details of its next console, lower the price of Game Pass (still much more expensive than a few years ago) or returning (half-way) to console exclusives like Gears of War: E-Day, they have given it some credit. Xbox wanted to believe that this year’s Showcase was going to become a moment of reaffirmation. However, weeks later the other side arrived: with an internal communication that the company itself made public, and that it spoke of a drop in income, the hardware component crisisand how it has been “overextended” in the execution of its strategy. Additionally, rumors are mounting about another wave of mass layoffs and studio closures, although Xbox has not officially confirmed them. The problem crosses borders. That things are this regular is not something exclusive to Xbox. The entire industry suffers from structural tensions. Electronic components are more expensive than ever due to high demand for AI data centersand platforms compete for users’ time and money in an increasingly subscription-saturated environment. In this context, the price of entry to play games, whether it is a console, a mid-range PC or simply keeping up to date with all the services, has skyrocketed. “It is a very difficult formula. It is a very demanding business, but I think it is a very special business” recognize Sharma. Xbox’s bet to open the game. Todd Green, head of King (the company that owns Candy Crush that Microsoft acquired together with Activision Blizzard in 2023) explained in the same interview that his philosophy is to “treat everyone as important, regardless of whether they describe themselves as a gamer or not.” Candy Crush, with hundreds of millions of users, represents exactly that model, as it is an accessible title, free in its most basic form, and with no barrier to entry. What is at stake. If we refer only to billing, and although the comparison is a bit petecanderthe video game far surpasses the cinema. According to the Entertainment Software AssociationAmerican consumers spent $60.7 billion on video games in 2025, compared to nearly $8.87 billion at the box office that same year. But those overall numbers don’t necessarily reflect what the average player experiences. The challenge for Xbox, and the industry in general, is to find a way so that this growth is not concentrated only at the extremes, that is, the casual mobile gamer and the enthusiast with an unlimited budget, leaving everyone in the middle without a reasonable option. What’s coming now? Sharma has made it clear that his vision for Xbox goes beyond consoles, as he wants to turn the division into the largest entertainment company in the world, and that also happens with adaptations of its franchises in film and television, as is already the case with Fallout and Minecraft, and coming soon with Gears of War either Sea of ​​Thieves. But first you will have to resolve many pending issues. Cover image | Xbox In Xataka | 24 years ago Oliver Kahn sued EA and won. Then a new goalkeeper appeared in football games: Jens Mustermann

Cases in young people are skyrocketing and science points to our lifestyle

by

When we think of patients with colon cancerour mind can automatically go to a middle-aged person with different risk factors behind them. However, epidemiology is documenting a radical change in statisticssince more and more young people are being diagnosed with this type of cancer, which makes us reflect to look for the ‘why’. The experts. Winette van der Graaf, professor of Medical Oncology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), points to this new reality and states that “I would never have imagined that I would be seeing patients with colorectal cancer at the age of 19” as collect The Country. With this phrase he gives voice to a global trend that epidemiological studies continue to confirm, since cancer is no longer a disease almost exclusively of old age, and the incidence is growing at a rate four times faster in young people than in older people. An explosion. Data supports the medical concern through multiple international macro studies, such as the one published in 2024 in The Lancet. Here, 50 countries were analyzed and showed that early-onset colorectal cancer (between 25 and 49 years) is increasing in 27 of them. But the most revealing data is in 20 of those 27 territories, where the increase in cases is exclusive to young people or is advancing much faster than in the adult population. The fastest pace is taken by countries such as New Zealand or Chile, growing at 4.0% annually, and Puerto Rico with 3.8%. Furthermore, in 14 countries, including Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, cases are increasing in young people while remaining stable in those over 50 years of age. Among the youngest. The figures here are scary, since, according to the data From the CDC, data on colorectal cancer among adolescents tripled between 1999 and 2020. If we go into detail, in the 20 to 24 year old group they grew by 185%, while in the 10 to 14 year old age group the growth was 500% as the incidence went from 0.1 to 0.6 cases per 100,000 children. The Spanish case. Here, a study based on real data from the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital published in JCO Global Oncology in 2024 analyzed more than 24,500 patients and found that 22.2% had early-onset cancer, being present before the age of 50. And we can go further, by making a list of the types of cancer that have increased the most in our territory: Sarcoma: increased by 43.4% in young people compared to 28.6% in older people. Kidney: rose 27.8% in young people compared to 20.1% in older people. Testicle: grew by 16.3% in young people, while its incidence fell by 13.1% in older people. Because? Here experts point to a combination of very diverse factors that try to explain it, although none of them is definitive. One of these is an inadequate diet with an increase in the consumption of red meat and calcium-deficient diets that is complemented by a tendency toward a sedentary lifestyle. But in addition, the excessive use of antibiotics could be severely altering our intestinal microbiota, added to the impact of bacterial infections during childhood. And it even goes further by considering the role of the exposure we have since childhood to chemical elements such as pesticides or pollution in general to give it an explanation. Images | brgfx on Magnific Julia Koblitz In Xataka | Neither cure nor die: why the next great revolution against cancer is to make it chronic

how to declare them and in which cases you must do so in the 2026 declaration

by

Let’s explain to you how to declare your cryptocurrencies in your Income 2025, which is the declaration we make in 2026 to account for the last fiscal year. You can now request and submit your draft online and from the mobilebut first it is advisable to pay attention to this. Let’s start this explanation by telling you in which cases you should declare your cryptocurrenciesso that you take into account if you have to do it. And then we will tell you the way in which you should enter them in the Income Tax return and the particularities of how they are declared. When should you declare your cryptocurrencies What you have to declare is everything you have won or lost in 2025 with the sale and exchange of cryptocurrencies. You must also declare when you exchange a cryptocurrency for a good or service, come on, when you have used them to pay for something. They are taxed like sharessuch as capital gains or losses. You have to declare all transactions, whether they generate profits or losses, regardless of the amount. This applies whether you mine cryptocurrencies or trade to buy and sell them. This is so because They are considered a part of your heritage and your income, and this makes them equivalent to when you earn money doing a job or selling stocks. It is important to make sure you declare everything, because You can have fines of up to 20,000 euros. If you do not declare movements, you will be fined around 20 euros for each undeclared data up to that figure. And if you declare incorrect data or data is omitted, the fine is 150 euros, although with the possibility of increasing to 0.5% or 1.5% of the amount of the operation. Losses or profits are calculated by the difference between the transfer value or the value at which you sold them and the acquisition value. You must also declare airdrops, which are those cryptocurrencies that a website can give you. exchange in exchange for registering or doing some operations in them. Besides, mining is also declaredand since it requires material or personal means to carry it out, it is an economic activity. Come on, you must register as a professional or businessman, and then declare the profits or losses by subtracting operating expenses such as electricity, equipment and so on, and the rewards or benefits obtained. How to declare cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies are declared in a specific section. You will have to use boxes 1,800 and 1,814, which detail the movements and operations carried out that are related to cryptocurrencies. When declaring the movements, you will have to write the name of the cryptocurrency, the key or what you have done with this asset, the value of the acquisition and the value of the transaction. And so with each of the movements you have made. For balances or holdings of cryptocurrencies abroad above 50,000 eurosyou will also have to fill out form 721. In addition, if the crypto balance abroad grows by more than €20,000 compared to the previous declaration, you must submit it again. Profits obtained are taxed in different ways depending on how much they amount to. They are taxed on the savings tax base, and these are their tax rates: Personal income tax of 19% for benefits of up to 6,000 euros. Personal income tax of 21% for benefits between 6,001 and 50,000 euros. Personal income tax of 23% for benefits between 50,001 and 200,000 euros. Personal income tax of 27% for benefits between 200,001 and 300,000 euros. Personal income tax of 30%: for benefits of more than 300,001 euros. Another thing to keep in mind is staking. If rewards are received for transferring the coins to a platform, it is considered a return on movable capital, which is taxed on the savings basis at a rate of between 19 and 30%. Meanwhile, if it is done as an economic activity, it is taxed on the general basis at rates that can range between 19% and 47%. Rewards obtained by staking are valued in euros at the time of receipt. You should also know that the Treasury uses the FIFO (First In, First Out) method. This means that the first cryptocurrencies you bought will also be considered the first to be sold. Additionally, if you suffer losses from cryptocurrencies you can offset them with other capital gains from the same return. In Xataka Basics | Stablecoins: what they are, how they work, advantages and uses of these stable cryptocurrencies

There are only 66 cases in the world and science is just beginning to understand it

by

Night rest can be interrupt due to many factorssuch as the need to go to the bathroom constantly to drink water before going to sleep, but there are other cases, such as painful sleep erectionswhich right now is emerging from ignorance, and that is why every time you get to know more of this problem which, fortunately, is quite infrequent. What is it? Although you may think that this is a problem related to the penis, the truth is that it is classified as a parasomnia. And it is no wonder, because what happens to the man here is that he has multiple erections during the night while he is in the REM phase of sleep that are so painful that it makes you wake up with a jump out of bed. But the curious thing is that the problem does not lie in the penis tissue itself, but rather clinical reviews point out that this disease is closely linked to hypertonicity or contracture of the bulbocavernosus muscles of the penis and the pelvic floor. Added to this are alterations in the central nervous system, such as instability during REM sleep, a peak in activity of the sympathetic nervous system and abnormal processing of pain and hormonal stress signals. It’s a challenge. At the level of cases diagnosed with this problem, the reality is that we speak of a “phantom disease” since it barely there are 66 cases documented worldwide, and there are almost no articles in the medical literature. This is something that translates into a situation of underdiagnosis, since in daily practice specialists see very few cases throughout their career. As a result, patients suffer a medical journey that delays diagnosis for years, and in desperation, and in the absence of answers, many end up assuming erroneous self-diagnoses based on chronic stress or prostatitis. Science tries to advance. Historically, the lack of cases made it difficult to create treatment protocols with the steps that doctors had to follow to solve the patient’s problem. However, recent clinical research has shed light on highly effective therapeutic approaches. That is why right now the use of muscle relaxants such as baclofen has proven to be a turning point for patients, since by relaxing the muscles of the penis an improvement is achieved in patients with this problem. In addition, diseases that are below this problem should also be looked for, such as sleep apnea or insomnia in general, which may be related to this pathology. Although there is still much to be done to investigate this disease, which a priori is quite unknown. Images | gpointstudio on Freepik In Xataka | Before colonizing other planets, humanity must solve a problem: erections in space

How to deduct home insurance on your 2025 income, and in what cases you can do it on your 2026 tax return

by

We are going to tell you in which cases you can deduct home insurance from the 2025 Income Tax return, which is what we do in 2026 to account for the last fiscal year. You can now request and submit your draft online and from the mobilebut before doing so pay attention to this. We have already explained to you the most important boxes to which you have to pay attention in your declaration, but there are also others that should be looked at in case you can scratch any deductions. One of them is related to home insurance when the home is linked to a mortgage. We will tell you in which cases you can deduct this insurance and how to do it. Conditions to deduct home insurance In the Income Tax return that we are doing this year, you can only deduct insurance linked to homes that you have acquired before January 1, 2013. Therefore, the date you purchased your home is very important. The maximum annual deductible base for investment in housing amounts to 9,040 euros. You will be able to deduct 15% on this amount, so The maximum deduction is 1,356 euros in your statement. Home insurance is included in the deductions related to the mortgage, but it is not possible to deduct it entirely. In addition to this, another condition is that The insurance must be linked to a mortgage on a mandatory basis. Come on, at the time the bank should have forced you to take out this insurance as a requirement to grant you this mortgage, a practice that we can sometimes encounter. Specifically, the Tax Agency says the following: The premiums for life and fire insurance contracts, provided that they are included in the conditions of the mortgage loans obtained for the acquisition (or, where applicable, for the construction), rehabilitation or extension of the habitual residence. This means that you will also be able to deduct the insurance that you were forced to take out when the mortgage was to acquire the home, to rehabilitate it or to expand it. Besides, It must be your habitual residencenot a secondary or vacation one. How to deduct your home insurance If your home insurance meets the conditions to be able to deduct it, all you have to do is write the insurance amount in boxes 547 and 548 of the Income Tax return, which are those destined for investments in your habitual residence. The deduction amounts to 7.5% in the state section and another 7.5% in the regional. Self-employed workers will also be able to deduct workspace insurance, whether in-person or teleworking. In this case you will have to do it in box 200, the one Insurance premiums for this type of professional expenses. Here, as usual, You must have documentation proving payment of this insurance, and that the document details the risks covered. This should be kept in case the Treasury decides to do a check to verify that everything is true. In Xataka Basics | Income Guide 2025: calendar, previous steps and how to prepare for the 2026 declaration

There are people sharing their court cases with AI. The problem is when a judge considers the conversations as evidence

by

More and more users have an AI chatbot as a companion for everything, whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claudeor any other. The problem comes when we decide to share sensitive data with this type of tools, especially with commercial models produced by large technology companies where we will always have the doubt of where our data travels. In this sense, there are those who share their legal data with the assistant, which can lead to something like what recently happened in New York. And a city judge just set a precedent historical by considering that any conversation held with a chatbot is public and therefore not protected by attorney-client privilege. That is to say: everything you share with the AI ​​can end up being used against you in court. The case. Bradley Heppner, an executive accused of fraud worth $300 million, used Claude, Anthropic’s chatbot, to ask questions about his legal situation before being arrested. He created 31 documents with his conversations with the AI ​​and later shared them with his defense attorneys. When the FBI seized his electronic devices, his attorneys claimed those documents were protected by attorney-client privilege. Judge Jed Rakoff has said no. Because No. Just like share Moish Peltz, a lawyer specializing in digital assets and intellectual property, in a post on X, the sentence establishes three reasons. First, an AI is not a lawyer: it is not licensed to practice, owes no loyalty to anyone, and its terms of service expressly disclaim any attorney-client relationship. Second, sharing legal information with an AI is legally equivalent to telling it to a friend, so it is not protected by professional secrecy. And third, sending ‘non-privileged’ documents to your lawyer afterwards does not magically make them confidential. The underlying problem. As the lawyer recalls, the interface of this type of chatbot generates a false sense of privacy, but in reality you are entering information into a third-party commercial platform that retains your data and reserves broad rights to disclose it. According to Anthropic privacy policy In effect when Heppner used Claude, the company may disclose both user questions and generated responses to “governmental regulatory authorities.” Dilemma. The court document reveals Also an aggravating factor: Heppner introduced into the AI ​​information that he had previously received from his lawyers. This poses a dilemma for the prosecution, according to account Peltz. And if you try to use those documents as evidence at trial, defense attorneys could become witnesses to the events, potentially forcing a mistrial. What does it mean to you? If you are involved in any legal matter, according to this ruling, what you share with an AI can be claimed by a judge and used as evidence. It doesn’t matter whether you are preparing your defense or seeking preliminary advice, as each query can end up becoming a factor against you. And it does not only apply to criminal cases: divorces, labor disputes, commercial litigation… any conversation with AI on these topics escapes legal protection. And now what. Peltz points out that legal professionals must explicitly warn their clients of this risk. You can’t assume that people understand it intuitively. The solution he mentions involves creating collaborative workspaces with AI shared between lawyer and client, so any interaction with artificial intelligence will occur under the supervision of the lawyer and within the lawyer-client relationship. Cover image | Romain Dancre and Solen Feyissa In Xataka | Folding clothes or taking apart LEGOs has always been a tedious task. Xiaomi’s new AI for robots has put an end to it

The measles outbreak is close to 8,500 cases and puts the health status of the country in check

by

Measles has ceased to be a latent threat and has become a worrying statistical reality in Mexicoas the latest consolidated data from February 2026 have pointed out. These leave no doubt that the country is going through its most complex outbreak in decades, accumulating 8,459 confirmed cases since the start of the crisis in 2025. It’s already worrying. The situation has escalated to such a point that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has issued a clear warning: If the chain of transmission is not cut in the coming weeks, Mexico could lose its status as a measles-free country. X-ray of the outbreak. The figures are compelling and draw a map of active transmission in the 32 states of the republic. Although the problem is national, the intensity is not homogeneous, since there are points where positive cases are much more evident. This is something that can be seen in the reports of the Ministry of Health (SSA) of Mexico, which indicates that so far in 2026, 2,143 cases have been reported. But the current epicenter is in Jaliscowhich is where 1,245 cases have been concentrated, representing almost 60% of the reports this entire year. Historical accumulated. Since February 2025, the state of Chihuahua leads the accumulated total with more than 4,400 cases, now followed by the rebound in the west of the country. But the most tragic thing is undoubtedly the human losses, since they have already been confirmed 27 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak in February 2025, with two recent deaths recorded in Tlaxcala and Michoacán This is in addition to the fact that the most vulnerable population is the youngest children, who are between one and four years old. Something that also makes it act as the perfect vector to infect the older population and those at greater risk of suffering from a more serious disease. The root of the problem. Experts point out that it is necessary to have a herd immunity to be able to apply containment to this serious health problem. And for such a contagious virus, at least 95% of the population is required to be vaccinated, something very similar to what was noted in the Covid pandemic in our environment. And the problem is precisely in low vaccination coverage that exists in these regions, causing many to not reach this percentage. And, despite the fact that the SSA reports the application of more than 11.8 million vaccinesthe spread of the virus suggests that there are still susceptible population groups, especially those where there are a greater number of cases right now. Use of face masks. As already happened in the COVID pandemic, there are some states such as Jalisco or Nuevo León that are evaluating the use of masks or face coveringsespecially in closed spaces and with a large influx of people. This is a simple containment barrier to prevent spread while the population finishes its vaccination schedule. The ultimatum. On the technical side, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched an extension until April to evaluate whether Mexico has achieved endemic transmission of this virus. This is something that is achieved when there is no continuous circulation of the virus in a territory for 12 months. Mexico has been fighting this outbreak since February 2025, and if transmission continues uninterrupted beyond the calendar year, measles will once again be considered endemic (typical of the region) and not an imported case. In addition to this, PAHO has confirmed that Mexico currently accounts for 71% of the cases on the entire American continent, a figure that forces health authorities to rethink the containment strategy to prevent its spread to the rest of the neighboring countries. What’s coming The next PAHO meeting in April will be critical in this regard. The decision that Mexico lose “measles-free” status It is not just a diplomatic label, but it implies greater costs in epidemiological surveillance, potential barriers in tourism and the confirmation of a major setback in the country’s public health status. Intensive campaigns are underway, but with the virus present in all states and active community transmission, the Mexican health system faces its most important test of the post-COVID era. A global problem. Although the news focuses on the many cases in Mexico in this case, the reality is that In other parts of the planet cases have also increased. One of the clearest examples is in the United States, where the CDC has raised alarm bells after observing how cases are multiplying in a matter of months. In Spain Official data also indicate that, while in 2023 only 14 cases were recorded, in 2024 they increased to 229 cases and in 2025 the forecast points to almost 400. Images | NIH Ed Us In Xataka | The myth of 37º: it is increasingly clear to us that there is no “normal” body temperature

There is such a fever for melatonin in children that in the US we already have cases of “overdose”

by

Over the last decade, melatonin has gone from being a specific resource for him jet lag to become a permanent tenant of millions of families and is present in many places to buy it. And it’s cheap, can be bought without a prescription and has an aura of “natural”. However, science is pointing to a problem it is creating: the use of these hormones in children has skyrocketed. Its main use. At a time when stress is accompanying us on a daily basis, insomnia is undoubtedly a serious problem for anyone, and solution that seems easier is melatonin. Under the pretext that it is something natural and without a prescription (in its lowest concentrations), it can be abused indiscriminately. The problem arises when children who cannot sleep well are also given a melatonin gummy so that they can sleep. Something that has already triggered cases of overdose and chronic treatments without medical supervision. The blind experiment. The study, led by the University of Kansas, has put figures to a trend that pediatricians have been observing in consultation for some time. By analyzing 19 studies (which include children up to 6 years old), researchers have drawn a worrying picture: between 2009 and 2021, accidental ingestions and overdoses of melatonin in minors in the US grew by 500%. And it is something that seems quite normal, since at the beginning the use of melatonin is applied to help sleep on a difficult night, but in the end it is becoming chronic by showing that between 40 and 50% of children who start the treatment continue taking it two or three years later. The problem is that today There is no solid data on the long-term safety or effectiveness of melatonin. in typically developing children. The legal vacuum. One of the big problems in Spain and the European Union is the product label. Currently, melatonin can be found as a dietary supplement in supermarkets, health food stores and countless other places. But it is also available as a medicine with pharmaceutical quality controls and intended primarily to treat chronodisruption severe. This is why some experts, such as Carlos Javier Egea Santaolalla, president of the Spanish Federation of Sleep Medicine Societies (FESMES), warn that this is a major public health problem. The proposed solution? That melatonin is always considered as a medication that must be prescribed to guarantee control of the duration and dose administered. Recommendations under supervision. It is the right thing to do when we talk about using melatonin in the little ones in the house, since it has been seen how it can be useful in children with ADHD to advance sleep. But the problem is that there are no studies that tell us about the consequences of using it for more than two years in a row. This is something that is also conveyed by the Spanish Sleep Society (SES), which recognizes that melatonin is a valuable tool in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A quality problem. When purchasing melatonin as a supplement, the consumer is faced with a “lottery” of formulations. Previous studies have shown that the actual amount of hormone in an over-the-counter gummy or pill can vary drastically from what the label says (sometimes up to 400% more). For Spanish experts, medicalizing its use would not only limit unnecessary consumption, but would guarantee that what the child ingests is exactly what the doctor has prescribed. In this way, the scientific community has pointed out that melatonin is a powerful drug that disrupts the endocrine system, not a magic solution so that parents can rest. Images | Annie Spratt Myriam Zilles In Xataka | I got my hands on some “sleep headphones” in the hopes of finally falling asleep. It came out regular

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.