Canada is on track to lose measles elimination status as an outbreak that began a year ago continues to spread.
The United States could follow suit in the coming months.
The outbreak in Canada began in October 2024 in New Brunswick, a province on the country's east coast. As of Tuesday, more than 5,000 cases had been reported. Two babies died.
Canada eliminated measles in 1998. The US followed suit two years later, in 2000.
There are several criteria for losing an official. measles elimination statusincluding the decline in vaccination rates seen in both countries.
But the most important factor is the availability ongoing transmission of measles for a whole year.
“To really say that a country has lost status, you need 12 months of continuous transmission of the same genotype and the same strain of the virus,” said Daniel Salas, an immunization expert at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Canada reached that milestone this week.
PAHO, part of the World Health Organization, is the group tasked with determining whether measles has been eliminated from a country in North, South or Central America. He is due to meet in Mexico City next week to review measles data through the end of October.
If a country loses measles elimination status, PAHO said, “a corrective action plan will need to be developed to guide efforts to regain elimination.”
It is extremely unlikely that the US will lose its eradication status during the upcoming meeting since the ongoing outbreak began in January, Salas said.
In the USA at least 1618 cases of measles Several more cases have been reported this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak, which is threatening eradication status in the United States, began in West Texas in late January. More than 800 people in Texas and New Mexico have been infected, and the outbreak has spread to other states. Three people died, including two young girls.
It will take time to analyze whether the ongoing spread in Arizona, Utah and South Carolina is related to the outbreak in West Texas.
Eliminating measles in the U.S. and Canada “has been a huge achievement,” Salas said. “When we say we support eradication as a region, we also commend each country for their efforts.”
The possibility of elimination status in Canada is “a wake-up call that we need to do a better job of vaccinating the population so we don't have outbreaks like this,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease expert at the University of Toronto, said in the report. interview this week with CTV in Toronto.
measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine Extremely effective, according to the CDC. Two doses, usually given between 1 and 5 years of age, are 97% effective in preventing infection.
