In February, Luna donated blood at her high school in Miami, with the goal of helping save others.

“She was very proud to come home and say, ‘I gave blood today,’” her mother, Valerie, said. (The Guardian is not using the mother or daughter’s full names to protect their privacy.)

It turned out, she was not able to save someone else’s life but potentially prevented herself from having serious health issues.

A couple months later, she received a letter from the blood donation company informing her that she could not give blood. She had tested positive for Chagas disease, which is caused by a parasite spread by triatomine bugs, otherwise known as kissing bugs.

Neither Luna nor Valerie had heard about the disease, which is most common in rural parts of Mexico and Central and South America, where their family had traveled.

“If you get a letter that tells you, you have blood cancer, you know what it is. But when you receive a letter and you hear, ‘Oh, your daughter has Chagas,’ … you’re like, oh, what is this?” said Valerie.

Dr Norman Beatty, who has studied the kissing bugs, said that like Valerie and Luna, most people in the US have not heard of Chagas, even though it is not just present south of the border but within the country.

Beatty, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine, is part of a group of scientists that authored a new report arguing that the United States should treat Chagas as an endemic disease, meaning that there is a constant or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area.

They hope to increase public awareness of Chagas, which while rare, can cause serious health problems.

“My hope is that with more awareness of Chagas, we can build a better infrastructure around helping others understand whether or not they are at risk of this disease” and cause people to think about it similarly to other vector-borne illnesses, like from mosquitoes and ticks, said Beatty. “We need to add kissing bugs to this list.”

Bugs spread the parasite through their droppings, which can infect humans if they enter the body through a cut or via the eyes or mouth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It can cause symptoms such as fever, fatigue and eyelid swelling in the weeks or months after infection.

Some people, like Luna, do not develop any symptoms – at least initially – but about 20 to 30% of people infected can develop chronic issues later in life such as an enlarged heart and heart failure, or an enlarged esophagus or colon, leading to trouble eating or going to the bathroom.

About 8 million people, including 280,000 in the United States, have the disease, according to the CDC.

It is not a recent arrival to the US. The 1,200-year-old remains of a man buried in south Texas revealed that he had Chagas and an abnormally-enlarged colon, according to a report in the Gastroenterology journal.

More recently, human development in new areas has brought us “closer to the kissing bugs’ natural environment”, Beatty said.

People in at least eight states have been infected with Chagas from local bugs, according to the new report, which was published in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.

But the fact that it has not been declared endemic to the United States has led to “low awareness and underreporting”, the report states.

A 2010 survey conducted of some American Medical Association providers found that 19% of infectious disease doctors had never heard of Chagas and 27% said they were “not at all confident,” in their knowledge of the disease being up to date.

“If you ask physicians about Chagas, they would think that it is either something transmitted by ticks … or they would say that’s something that doesn’t exist in the US,” said Dr Bernardo Moreno Peniche, a physician and anthropologist who was one of the authors of the report with Beatty.

But Beatty sees people with Chagas every week at a clinic in Florida dedicated to travel medicine and tropical diseases. (Those patients were infected with Chagas in Latin America.)

Beatty said there is a misconception that tests for Chagas are not reliable or available in the United States.

“We have the infrastructure to start screening people who have had exposure to these bugs and who may be in a region where we had known transmission, so we should be thinking about this as kind of routine care,” Beatty said.

After Valerie received the letter about Luna’s infection, she contacted her pediatrician who quickly responded and told them to see an infectious disease doctor.

That physician told them it was likely a “false positive” and ordered additional tests before eventually starting treatment, Valerie said.

Frustrated by the medical care, Valerie sought out a new physician and found Beatty, who prescribed a different anti-parasitic therapy.

Even among people like Luna who are not experiencing any symptoms, such treatment is often recommended, Beatty said.

The goal is to “detect early and treat early to avoid the chronic, often permanent damage that can occur”, Beatty explained.

The treatment took two months, during which Luna experienced side effects like hives and severe swelling in her hands and feet, she said.

While she is finished with the treatment, there is no definitive test to determine whether such patients will develop chronic Chagas symptoms, but it’s less likely, Beatty said.

“I hope the CDC takes it seriously,” Valerie said, “and that we can move forward and have good awareness, so that people want to be tested and get tested and get the treatment they need.”

NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.

Israel attempted to kill the leaders of the terror group with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.

Trump reportedly expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as in public, and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.

Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined for the meal by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamad Al-Muftah, said on X.

The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.

The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Vance and Rubio expressed their appreciation for Qatar’s “tireless mediation efforts and its effective role in bringing peace to the region,” and said that Doha is a “reliable strategic ally of the United States of America.”

From L-R: Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, US Vice President JD Vance, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in Washington, DC, September 13, 2025. (Qatar’s Foreign Ministry/X)

Thani “affirmed that the State of Qatar will take all measures to protect its security and safeguard its sovereignty in the face of the blatant Israeli attack,” the statement read.

Trump has said he is unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.

Nevertheless, Rubio is set to leave for a visit to Israel on Saturday, where he will speak to Israeli leaders about “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism,” US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Friday.

Damage is seen after an Israeli strike targeted a compound that hosted Hamas’ political leadership in Doha, Qatar on September 10, 2025 (AFP)

Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Doha has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.

Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.

Israel’s security establishment now increasingly believes it failed to kill any of Hamas’s top brass who were gathered at the site of Tuesday’s strike in Doha.

Hamas identified the dead as Jihad Labad, head of the office of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya; al-Hayya’s son Hammam al-Hayya; and three others described as “associates” — either advisers or bodyguards: Abdallah Abd al-Wahid, Muamen Hassouna and Ahmad Abd al-Malek. In addition, a Qatari security officer, Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, was killed.

Doha will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Sunday and Monday to discuss the Israeli attack, Qatar’s state news agency reported.

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David Rye has been hearing a lot less French on the mountain bike trails this summer.

Rye is the outdoor center director at the von Trapp Family Lodge and Resort (yes, of ‘The Sound of Music’ fame). Stowe, Vermont — along with other northern reaches of the state — is a popular locale for Canadian visitors, since it’s easily drivable from the border.

But this year, Rye said, the Quebec license plates usually peppered throughout popular tourist destinations have dissipated. When they do appear, Rye said, “I’m making it a point to thank them profusely for coming and seeing us.”

Meanwhile, in Burlington, Trader Joe’s worker Nicolo Mendolia said he noticed emptier stores during typically busy times. “A big part of that would be that there’s nobody from Quebec coming down,” he said; at the very least, he said, there’s been a lot fewer folks.

This summer, other border states are experiencing a different kind of drought: a dearth of Canadians. Vermont to Canada border crossings were down nearly 39% in July from the year prior, per data compiled by the state. According to Statistics Canada, Canadian spending in the US plunged 7.9% in the first quarter of 2025 from the same time in the year prior. (Ironically, in the same period, Americans made more trips to Canada than the year prior, and spent 27.3% more.)

I witnessed it firsthand while in Vermont for Labor Day. The whole area felt emptier. In past years, we waited in line for hours at certain restaurants, but this year they seated us right away. And, while we were out to dinner, overheard conversations were dominated by the flat vowels of New Englanders and New Yorkers — there wasn’t a Quebecois to be found.

It seems that the US has, in fact, done the unthinkable: pissed off a country known for its friendliness, as President Donald Trump goes back and forth on a trade war and muses about making it into the 51st state. I spoke with Canadian travelers and US businesses, and no one described any outright hostility. Don Dompe, a 61-year-old electrician in Edmonton, likened it to tensions between neighbors — things have soured, and they just might not want to barbecue together anymore.

The lack of Canadians has been felt socioeconomically in the towns on the periphery of what’s historically been a porous border; some worry it could become a lasting trend. To avoid that, they’re pulling out all the stops, writing love letters and renaming streets, in an attempt to get them back.

“The longer-term ramifications are that our economy will suffer and that businesses will close and people will lose their jobs, which is just terrible,” Becca Brown McKnight, a city councilor in Burlington, Vermont, said. “We are really lucky in Vermont to have a robust small business economy; a lot of these are mom and pop shops, and this is people’s entire livelihood.”

Dear Canada, we’ve missed you

Canadians and US border states used to go together like gravy on fried potatoes. Matthew Hall, 48, is one of the disaffected. Hall, who owns an environmental restoration company in Victoria, British Columbia, used to enjoy hopping on the ferry to Port Angeles in Washington State or driving down to Portland for fun.

“Traveling to the States was part of our yearly plans, and I never had any problems doing it,” Hall said. “And honestly, I never even had problems doing it in the first Trump administration.”

But this year, amid tariffs and the President’s brainstorming about making Canada into the 51st state, Hall won’t be visiting his neighbors down south. He doesn’t want to spend any money in the US until, from his perspective, a little bit more stability and sanity return. Hall has already canceled a combination family and business trip to Portland; he said his family is going to explore Canada instead this year, heading over to Quebec.

Hall’s is the type of story that’s breaking hearts south of the border. Visit Rochester, which tries to lure travelers to the New York border city, has launched a campaign called “Dear Canada.”

“We’ve missed you. Your sense of adventure. The way you savor every bite. Your love for the journey and the moments in between,” Rochester wrote in its impassioned plea to visitors. “Here in Rochester, New York, we’re writing this letter, not just to our neighbors to the north, but to the memories we’ve made together and the ones still waiting to happen.”

In Las Vegas, Mayor Shelley Berkley said that the city has seen a decline in visitors from Canada, imploring them to come back; according to calculations from University of Nevada, Las Vegas economics professor Stephen Miller, Canadians bolstered the local economy by $3.6 billion in 2024.

In Burlington, McKnight — the city councilor — helped spearhead a symbolic charge to temporarily rename the city’s main drag to “Rue Canada.” McKnight said that she and her colleagues wanted to take action to show that Vermont continues to be friendly towards Canadians.

“Obviously, we can’t impact immigration policy at the border and deal with some of the really troubling stories that we are hearing about there that’s outside of our jurisdiction, but we can make changes in Burlington itself,” McKnight said.

Since passing that resolution, McKnight said they’ve received dozens of letters in the mail and via email and even received a huge bouquet of flowers in the color of the Canadian flag from a Canadian businesswoman.

“It’s just been this outpouring of stories of how folks have visited Vermont for their whole life, or they have family, or they went to college here. And so I think it really shows the beauty of human connection,” McKnight said.

No new friends

All of the Canadians and Americans I spoke with missed their friends and colleagues on the other side of the border — but they understand that their relationships, both economically and socially, might never be the same.

Dompe, the Gen Xer from Edmonton, has deep ties to the US through family. He’s also met many friends in his travels.

“I still fondly remember the people that I met on bike trips and any trips with the family that we took to Disneyland or Flathead Lake or whatever. The people are always amazing,” Dompe said. “That’s never going to change, but the political landscape has made it such that it’s just, I mean, I don’t think I’ll be making any more new friends.”

After all, as McKnight said, symbolic gestures might not be enough for the Canadians with larger fears about crossing the border. One millennial dual citizen living in Canada used to travel back to the States once or twice a year. This year, they pulled out of a planned retreat in Texas and put summer plans on ice. As a queer and nonbinary person, they said they’re leery of entering the US right now, but they miss what the country has to offer: their friends, the natural beauty, and their beloved childhood chain, Qdoba.

Hall said that he misses hiking in the Olympic Peninsula. Mendolia, who is also a dual citizen and has family still up in Canada, said that he now feels more stressed going up to see them, and that they’re more hesitant to come see him and other family members in the US.

For Dompe, it’s felt like a neighborly betrayal; he cited moments like Canadians welcoming planes affected by 9/11, and the US sending firefighters to Canada to assist with wildfires.

“For older Canadians like myself, the 51st state comment, that whole line of talk that started this whole thing and then just drifted away, that hit a real cord. We’ve shared everything,” he said.