Canada has more measles cases right now than any other country in the Americas [View all]

Canada achieved measles elimination status in 1998. Now, it could lose it

As Canada's measles outbreak continues to grow, the country is at risk of losing its measles elimination status — a bar set by the World Health Organization.

"The risk is substantial," said Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician with Public Health Ontario who has been tracking the measles outbreak in that province.

Ontario is now reporting more measles cases each week than it once saw over an entire decade, Wilson said. "It is a very different situation than what we experienced in the last decade since measles elimination was achieved," she said.

Measles elimination is reached when a virus is no longer endemic — circulating regularly — in a certain country or region. It's different from eradication, which is when person-to-person transmission has been eliminated globally. A country can lose elimination status when transmission of the virus continues for one year or more.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-measles-elimination-risk-1.7541504

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Much of the outbreak started due to a large gathering of Mennonites last fall in New Brunswick and have spread across the country as a result. Mennonites, Amish and other Anabaptist communities are being hit particularly hard due to their lower vaccination rates.