THURSDAY, Oct. 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Canada may lose its measles elimination status amid a yearlong outbreak that has infected more than 5,000 people and killed two infants, health officials said this week.

The outbreak began in October 2024 in New Brunswick and has now spread across multiple provinces. It is Canada’s first continuous measles transmission in more than 25 years. 

Canada eliminated measles in 1998.

“To really say that a country has lost the status, it takes 12 months of continuous transmission with the same genotype and the same strain of the virus,” Daniel Salas, an immunization expert with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), told NBC News.

PAHO, which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), meets next week in Mexico City to review data and decide whether to strip Canada of its measles-free status. 

If it is revoked, officials said, the country will need to implement a “corrective action plan” to regain it.

Health experts warn that the United States may not be far behind. The U.S. has reported at least 1,618 measles cases so far this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.

The current U.S. outbreak began in West Texas in January, infecting more than 800 people across Texas and New Mexico, and has since spread to other states, including Arizona, Utah and South Carolina. 

Three deaths have been confirmed, including two young girls.

However, the U.S. is unlikely to lose its elimination status during the upcoming PAHO meeting because its outbreak began less than 12 months ago.

The possibility of losing elimination status in Canada is “a wake-up call that we need to do better in vaccinating our general public so we don’t have outbreaks like this,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, said in an interview with CTV News.

The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine remains highly effective, according to the CDC, preventing infection in 97% of people after two doses. It is typically given around ages 1 and 5.

The elimination of measles in the U.S. and Canada “was a huge achievement,” Salas said. “When we say that we sustain the elimination as a region, we are also acknowledging each country for their efforts.”

More information

The World Health Organization (WHO) has more on measles.

SOURCE: NBC News, Oct. 28, 2025