KEY POINTS

Ongoing outbreaks risk the U.S. losing its measles-free status.

The CDC reports 1,723 lab-confirmed measles cases in the U.S. this year.

Outbreaks mostly affect unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status.

Health officials this week said ongoing measles outbreaks could remove the status of the U.S. as a country that has “eliminated measles.” Despite random cases on a small scale in the intervening years, America has proudly claimed to have done away with the highly contagious disease since the early 2000s.

Canada already lost its status earlier this month, 27 years after gaining it, for failure to control an outbreak that started in October 2024 at a Mennonite event.

A country is stripped of the designation, which is given by the World Health Organization,

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