Nov 13, 2025
3 min read
The Pan American Health Organization moved away from being the only continent on the continent to certify the disease because Canada was unable to stop it before the age of one.
US loses measles-free zone status
The American Health Organization revoked the certificate from the only continent to obtain this because Canada did not manage to stop its flames before one year.Mexico accumulates transmissions for 8 months since first warning
The U.S. territory, the only one in the world to achieve measles-free status, lost this coveted certification after Canada failed to stop the ongoing transmission of the disease before it reached 12 months of circulation.The rest of the countries maintain it, despite the decline in the continent, but some countries have strong epidemics, such as Mexico and the United States, which share an epidemic on both sides of the border located in opposing vaccination religious communities.Low vaccination rates are the main cause of the emergence and spread of these epidemics.Achieving population immunity requires more than 95% coverage at the two recommended doses, with the region currently at 79% and Mexico at 69%.
"This is the sign of the situation," said the Director of Jarbas Barbosa, the association of Public Health Security gathered in the city of Mexico to analyze the nature of the disease.The United States has managed to achieve disease-free status twice, at the end of 2024, but this is the only limit to achieve it." This is still one of the great health achievements that we have achieved," said Barbosa to the intensity of the disease.
Mexico still retains its individual certificate, but the threat of losing it is not over.The North American country is facing a national outbreak that has accumulated eight months of transmission since the first epidemiological signal was released in March.Since then there have been 23 deaths, 21 of them in Chihuahua, on the northern border, and the cases have spread to 27 of the 32 states of the Republic: there are 5,185 confirmed patients and more than double the number of possible unconfirmed infections.The other two deaths occurred in Sonora and Durango, the last institution to report a death about a month ago.
PAHO acknowledged the country's efforts to cover the gap, but warned that Mexico would still not reach the required standards to boost vaccinations in April 2026.Measles is the oldest infectious disease in the world.Each case can cause up to 18 more, so vaccination coverage exceeds 95%.
Chihuahua and Oaxa are the first states in Mexico to report patients.The southern part can be managed quickly with something very small and at this time, but the surrounding area is quickly noticed. in part thanks to the gratitude of some organizations of any organization raised in the injection.And now because of the destruction of the territory of the region, it gathers population and it is difficult for the professor to exist, especially in the mountains.
Contributions in this area are spread among the day laborers who travel, precisely, from the mountains to the Mennonite fields, where the disease is exposed.Due to the nature of some activities, the population moves from one area to another, bringing measles that previously did not have cases.To protect this segment of the population, a group considered at risk of infection, the government extended in July for those under 40, usually recommended up to 49 years.
Those in charge of PAHO said this Monday that Mexico should focus on the transfer of vaccines to the United States and the coverage of these seasonal workers, as well as strengthening communication between regions.This week, a support mission from the international organization will travel to Chihuahua to assist with training professionals, laboratory monitoring and one of the most important challenges: access to vaccines.Jarbas Barbosa explained that it is important for families to be able to find doses at health centers at any time, even on weekends, because if informality is too limited, it may pose an obstacle to accessing the vaccine.
He said medical staff can explain the importance of vaccination in simple language.Many outbreaks occur in communities that continue to show strong skepticism about this method of protection, in recent years the skepticism has been sown by arguments against scientific evidence.Stress is important at this time.According to Paho, vaccination against measles contributed to the prevention of 60 million deaths in the world between 2000 and 2023, six million in the United States.
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