Canada has lost its status as a measles-free country after nearly three decades due to its failure to curb a year-long outbreak, causing the Americas region to lose that status, the Pan American Health Organization said Monday.
Last month, health experts expected that the Pan American Health Organization would strip Canada of its measles elimination status. The country recorded more than five thousand cases of measles in nine of its ten regions and one region in the north.
“This represents a setback, but it is also changeable,” said Dr. Gerbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization, part of the World Health Organization.
He added that although the Americas region as a whole also lost its elimination status, individual countries retain their status. Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and the United States are all facing active outbreaks.