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November 10, 2025<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Canada Just Lost Its Measles-Free Status. The U.S. Could Soon Follow<\/p>\n
Canada lost its official measles elimination status after a year of continuous transmission<\/p>\n
By Humberto Basilio edited by Tanya Lewis<\/span><\/p>\n A measles virus particle.<\/p>\n Callista Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Canada has lost its measles-free status following a year of ongoing measles transmission, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced today. As a result, the entire region of the Americas is no longer measles-free.<\/p>\n The Americas became the first region in the world to be declared free of the disease in 2016, following a 22-year regional campaign that relied on mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella.<\/p>\n \u201cThis loss represents a setback\u2014but it is also reversible,\u201d PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa said today at a press briefing.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n So far this year, Canada has confirmed 5,162 measles cases. In response to PAHO\u2019s declaration, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement that it was working with PAHO and federal and local authorities to improve vaccination coverage, strengthen data sharing, enhance surveillance and provide evidence-based guidance.<\/p>\n \u201cCanada can re-establish its measles elimination status once transmission of the strain linked to the current outbreak is interrupted for at least 12 months,\u201d the agency\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n In addition to Canada, active measles outbreaks are currently underway in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and the U.S. Health experts have warned that the U.S. has been on shaky ground since a 762-case outbreak that began in West Texas in late January 2025; that outbreak was declared over on August 18.<\/p>\n In 2025 the U.S. has had 1,681 measles cases, the majority of which were detected in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Health officials are currently investigating other ongoing outbreaks in South Carolina and Utah. If those are found to be linked to the outbreak that began in late January, the U.S. could lose its measles-free status for the first time in 25 years.<\/p>\n This is not the first time the Americas has lost its measles elimination status. In 2018 and 2019 Venezuela and Brazil, respectively, temporarily lost their elimination status after major outbreaks. The region regained its measles-free designation in 2024\u2014until now.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" November 10, 2025 2 min read Canada Just Lost Its Measles-Free Status. The U.S. Could Soon Follow Canada lost its official measles elimination status after a year of continuous transmission By Humberto Basilio edited by Tanya Lewis A measles virus particle. Callista Images\/Getty Images Canada has lost its measles-free status following a year of ongoing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[318,1097,96,18906,5339,811],"class_list":{"0":"post-32873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-follow","10":"tag-lost","11":"tag-measlesfree","12":"tag-status","13":"tag-u-s"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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