The Bahamas ends mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The Bahamas has been recognised as having eliminated the mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 22 April 2026. The has been achieved through the establishment of a comprehensive universal healthcare system, and the implementation of an Elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission program, which aims to eliminate the mother-to-child transmission of three diseases, HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B. Under the terms of this program, all expectant mothers are offered screening for these diseases, as well as treatments to prevent transmission to the child. The program has also included making available pre-exposure prophylaxis treatments for HIV, which prevent people becoming infected following an initial exposure, reducing the prevalence of HIV in the population. The Bahamas becomes the twelfth country in the Americas Region to have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The national flag of the Bahamas. St Kitts & Nevis Observer.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is a form of Lentivirus which causes infections in Humans, spread through sexual intercourse or exchange of blood. Notably, the Virus infects the cells of the Human immune system, where it is hard for that immune system to attack, and eventually leads to a breakdown of the immune system known as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), during which the body becomes vulnerable to a wide range of infections, including many by micro-organisms which are not usually pathogenic. 

Untreated, HIV invariably leads to AIDS, and AIDS is invariably fatal, but, as with Syphilis, HIV infections can go through long phases of dormancy, leaving infected people unaware that they have the disease. Neither an effective vaccine nor a cure for HIV has yet been developed, however, it is possible to suppress the infection with a combination of anti-viral drugs, allowing patients to lead relatively normal lives, as long as their supply of antivirals is not interrupted. Children born to mothers with HIV are not automatically infected, as the Virus is usually unable to cross the placenta, but there is a high chance of infection during birth if the mother is not receiving treatment.

Scanning electron microscope image of an HIV virion. Hockley et al. (1988). 

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At least 56 dead after Hurricane Melissa sweeps across Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti.

At least 56 people have died in Jamaica and Haiti after Hurricane Melissa swept across the Greater Antilles between 25 and 29 October 2025. The storm first appeared as a tropical depression off the coast of West Africa around 16 October, moving across the Atlantic Ocean, then passing through the Windward Islands on 19 October, before continuing to move westwards across the Caribbean Sea. The weather system began to intensify on 21 October, provoking meteorologists to give it the name Tropical Storm Melissa. On 25 October it began to intensify further, becoming a Category 5 storm early on 27 October. At the same time it changed its direction of movement sweeping northward towards Jamaica, where it made landfall near New Hope about midday on 28 October.

The path and strength of Hurricane Melissa. Thick line indicates the past path of the storm (till 3.00 pm GMT on Friday 31 October 2025), while the thin line indicates the predicted future path of the storm, and the dotted circles the margin of error at 9, 21, 33, 45, 69, and 93 hours ahead. Colour indicated the severity of the storm. Tropical Storm Risk.

Hurricane Melissa reached Jamaica as the joint most intense Hurricane ever to make land, tying with the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 in having a pressure of only 892 millibars, and a maximum recorded windspeed of 406 km per hour - the highest ever recorded for a storm on Earth. Flooding was reported in the town of Old Harbour ahead of the storm, with much of the parish of Saint Elizabeth under water when it hit. Several villages in the parish are described as being obliterated by the combination of flood waters and high winds, as was the town of Mandeville in neighbouring Manchester Parish. Flooding was also reported in Montego Bay and Kingston, buildings collapsed in Falmouth, and a landslide was reported in Gordon Town. At least 19 people died on the island, including eight in Saint Elizabeth Parish, two (including an infant) in Saint James Parish, nine in Westemoreland Parish, and a pregnant woman in Petersfield.

Storm damage around  St. John's Anglican Church in Black River, Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Ricardo Makyn/AFP/Getty Images.

From Jamaica, the storm moved northward to Cuba, where it caused widespread flooding and damage to buildings in Santiago de Cuba Province, although there are no reports of any fatalities there. However, high rainfall associated with the the storm caused several rivers to bust their banks in neighbouring Haiti, where at least 30 people have died and about 20 more are still missing. Four people are also reported to have died in the Dominican Republic, again due to flooding.

Vehicles buried in mud after a river burst its banks in  Petit-Goâve, Haiti, following rains associated with Hurricane Melissa. Clarens Siffroy/AFP/Getty Images.

Tropical storms are caused by the warming effect of the Sun over tropical seas. As the air warms it expands, causing a drop in air pressure, and rises, causing air from outside the area to rush in to replace it. If this happens over a sufficiently wide area then the inrushing winds will be affected by centrifugal forces caused by the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). This means that winds will be deflected clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, eventually creating a large, rotating Tropical Storm. They have different names in different parts of the world, with those in the northwest Atlantic and eastern Pacific being referred to as hurricanes.

The formation of a tropical cyclone. Natural Disaster Management.

Despite the obvious danger of winds of this speed, which can physically blow people, and other large objects, away as well as damaging buildings and uprooting trees, the real danger from these storms comes from the flooding they bring. Each drop millibar drop in air-pressure leads to an approximate 1 cm rise in sea level, with big tropical storms capable of causing a storm surge of several meters. This is always accompanied by heavy rainfall, since warm air over the ocean leads to evaporation of sea water, which is then carried with the storm. These combined often lead to catastrophic flooding in areas hit by tropical storms.

The formation and impact of a storm surge. eSchoolToday.

Hurricane Melissa was the thirteenth named storm in the tropical Atlantic in 2025, the fifth storm to be elevated to hurricane status, and the third Category 5 hurricane of the season. It was also the strongest tropical storm measured anywhere on Earth in 2025, the joint most powerful storm ever to have made land, and produced the highest windspeed ever recorded from a storm on Earth. The size and frequency of such storms is directly linked to the temperature of the sea and the air above it, with rising global temperatures subsequently fuelling more and larger storms, and other extreme weather events in the Caribbean and other tropical regions.

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Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake to the northeast of the Dominican Republic.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake at a depth of 46 km roughly 109 km to the northeast of the Dominican Republic, slightly before 1.50 am local time (slightly before 5.50 am GMT) on Tuesday 25 February 2025. There are no reports of any damage or injuries associated with this event, and nor was a tsunami warning issued but people have reported feeling it across the eastern Dominican Republic as well as on Puerto Rico.

The approximate location of the 25 February 2025 Puerto Rico Earthquake. USGS.

The Dominican Republic forms the eastern part of the island of La Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles.  The island has a complex geological structure, with parts of it lying on three different tectonic plates, and two plate margins running east-to-west across the island. The northernmost part of the island lies on the North American Plate. This is divided from the Gonâve Microplate by the Septentrional Fault Zone, which runs through Rio San Juan, along the north coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, then across the Windward Passage and along the south coast of Cuba. The Gonâve Microplate is moving east relative to the North American Plate, pushed by the Mid-Cayman Spreading centre to the west of Jamaica. To the south the Gonâve Microplate is separated from the Caribbean Plate by the Enriquilo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone, which runs across Southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the west the fault runs through central Jamaica. The Caribbean Plate is rotating clockwise, effectively moving east relative to the Gonâve Microplate.

Plate movements and fault zones around the Gonâve Microplate. Mike Norton/Wikimedia Commons.

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Magnitude 6.1 earthquake off the south coast of Cuba.

The National Seismological Research Service of Cuba recorded a Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake at a depth of 9 km, about 35 km off the south coast of Cuba at about 1.00 am local time (about 6.00 am GMT) on Monday 23 December 2024. The event was felt across eastern Cuba, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands, and while there are no reports of any injuries, minor damage to buildings has been reported from across eastern Cuba, and several roads were blocked by landslides triggered by the Earthquake.

The approximate location of the 23 January 2024 Cuba Earthquake. USGS.

Cuba lies on the southern portion of the North American Plate, to the north of the Septentrional Fault Zone, which forms the boundary with the Gonâve Microplate, a small tectonic plate underlying northern Jamaica and most of the island of Hispaniola. The Gonâve Microplate is moving east relative to the North American Plate, pushed by the Mid-Cayman Spreading centre to the west of Jamaica.

To the south the Gonâve Microplate is separated from the Caribbean Plate by the Enriquilo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone, which runs across Southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the west the fault runs through central Jamaica. The Caribbean Plate is rotating clockwise, effectively moving east relative to the Gonâve Microplate.

Plate movements and fault zones around the Gonâve Microplate. Mike Norton/Wikimedia Commons.

None of these movements are smooth, with rock formations at the boundaries of the plates constantly sticking together then breaking apart as the pressure from the plate movement builds up, triggering Earthquakes in the process.

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Oil spill on the coast of Tobago, following wreck of mystery barge.

An oil slick has spread over 160 km on the Caribbean Sea following the wreck of a barge off the coast of the island of Tobago on 7 February 2024. The wreck was not reported by the barge's owners, but instead was spotted by beachgoers who reported it to the Tobago Emergency Management Authority. The barge has capsized on Cove Reed, off the southern coast of the island, and oil from it has spread over reefs and beaches along the southern tip of the island, as well as spreading across the Caribbean Sea towards Grenada and Venezuela.

An aerial image of the capsized barge. Office of the Chief Secretary of Tobago.

The barge appears to have been an unmanned and unpowered vessel, and has the word 'Gulfstream' painted on its side. As an unmanned, unpowered vessel it would not have been required to register with the International Maritime Organization, nor to carry an Automatic Identification System tracker, although it would have been partnered with a manned tugboat, which should (in theory) have complied with both of these requirements.

Before and after satellite images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission show the scale of the oil spill that occurred off the shores of Trinidad and Tobago’s coastline earlier this week. The vessel, identified as the Gulfstream, ran aground and overturned off the southern shores of Tobago Island. The final image of the animation, captured at 10.18 pm GMT on 14 February, shows the oil spill has travelled over 160 km westwards. The spill is moving out of Trinidad and Tobago’s marine area and into Grenada’s southernmost marine area – which could affect neighbouring Venezuela. Satellite radar is particularly useful for monitoring the progression of oil spills because the presence of oil on the sea surface dampens down wave motion. Since radar basically measures surface texture, oil slicks show up well – as black smears on a grey background. European Space Agency.

An investigation by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard found that a barge identified as the Gulfstream left Panama en route for Guyana coupled to a tug called the Solo Creed on 12 January 2024, and that authorities in Guyana reported that neither vessel arrived there. The Solo Creed, identified by the Vessel Finder website as a Tanzanian registered towing vessel, which visited Aruba on 20 January, and was last detected off the coast of Venezuela on 4 February.

An image of the capsized barge on 10 February 2023. Tobago House Assembly/AFP.

The Bellingcat investigative agency has identified a double-hulled barge capable of carrying 60 000 barrels of oil (i.e. 9.5 million litres) called the Gulfstream which was coupled to a tugboat called the Marlin, operating within the United States until 2012, which appears to be a good physical match for the vessel off the coast of Tobago. The Marlin was sold to the Panamanian San Martin Group in 2014, and while there are no official records of the Gulfstream after this, Bellingcat has found photographic evidence of the two vessels operating together between Panama and Venezuela between 2015 and 2020. The Marlin was sold on to another Panamanian company, Star Goods Petroleum, in 2021, and has not transmitted its position since. The Gulfstream was observed in the Astinave shipyard in Ecuador in February 2022, but has not been sighted since. Bellingcat suspect that the renamed Marlin and Gulfstream may still be operating together, as part of a 'ghost fleet' carrying embargoed Iranian oil to Venezuela. Many oil-carrying vessels operating out of Venezuela are considered to be poorly maintained to the point of being dangerous, and the Marlin and Gulfstream, if still operating together, would be 60- and 58-years-old respectively; both vessels would have been built with a planned lifetime of 30 years.

Oil spills are potentially harmful to marine life in a variety of ways. Most obviously it can coat the outside of organisms, causing damage to external structures such as the feathers of Birds and fur of Mammals, as well as smothering many marine invertebrates and plants. It also contains a variety of chemicals which can be directly toxic upset the hormonal balance of many animals. Oil also impedes the feeding of marine organisms, coating both food and feeding organs, but provides an excellent food source for Bacteria, which can lead to Eutrophication events - dramatic increases in Bacteria numbers, which then use all the oxygen in the water, leading other organisms to asphyxiate.

Workers from state own Heritage Petroleum Oil and Gas Company, the state oil company of Trinidad and Tobago, clean up an oil spill that reached Rockly Bay beach, in Scarborough, south western Tobago. Akash Boodan/AP.

Many fishermen on the southern part of Tobago are reporting vessels and equipment damaged by exposure to oil, and beaches across the southern part of the island being forced to close to tourists at the height of the tourist season. Volunteers and local specialists have recovered about 2000 barrels of oil from beaches on Tobago, but the vessel is still leaking and will probably need to be emptied of oil before it can be refloated and the damage repaired.

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