Europe and Canada have already lost their measles‑elimination status, while the United States is at risk of losing its status

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After more than a year of sustained community transmission of the measles virus, the WHO/Pan American Health Organization has had to officially acknowledge that Canada is no longer among countries that have eliminated the potentially fatal disease.

This ominous development is the predictable result of years of governments undermining public health, intensified by the catastrophic rollback of COVID-19 mitigation measures early in the pandemic.

More than 5,000 measles cases have been confirmed in 2025 compared to 147 in 2024, with infections reported in nine provinces and the Northwest Territories. Two deaths have been recorded, both infants exposed to the virus in utero. A country once held up for its public health achievements now faces widespread circulation of a disease considered eliminated for a quarter century.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/12/04/pvjt-d04.html

Measles outbreaks worsen in South Carolina, Arizona, Utah

Measles outbreaks are growing along the Utah-Arizona border and in South Carolina, where hundreds are in quarantine.

Between Friday and Tuesday, South Carolina health officials confirmed 27 new measles cases in an outbreak in and around northwestern Spartanburg County. In two months, 111 people have been sickened by the vaccine-preventable virus.

More than 250 people, including students from nine area elementary, middle and high schools, are in quarantine — some for the second time since the outbreak began in October. Most of the state’s new cases stemmed from exposures at Way of Truth Church in Inman. Church leaders have been “very helpful,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/measles-outbreaks-worsen-south-carolina-arizona-utah/

Europe’s measles‑elimination status is tracked country by country, not as a single bloc. Over the past several years, WHO/Europe has confirmed that multiple European countries lost their elimination status, including:

  • United Kingdom
  • Greece
  • Czech Republic
  • Albania
  • Romania
  • Italy
  • Germany