"One year ago this week, a case of measles was recorded in Gaines County, Texas. It was the start of an outbreak that killed two children and sickened at least 760 people. Thousands more in the U.S. have contracted measles since. In April, the Pan American Health Organization, an offshoot of the World Health Organization, will determine whether the same virus strain first recorded in west Texas on Jan. 20, 2025, has been transmitted without interruption in the 12 months since."
"If it has, the U.S. will officially lose the measles elimination status that the organization conferred in 2000. Meeting those requirements "took several decades of really hard work," said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist and emeritus professor at UC Berkeley. "Losing that distinction is an embarrassment for the United States. It's another nail in the coffin for the credibility of this country.""
The United States eliminated measles in 2000, but a 2025 resurgence produced more than 2,200 cases, roughly half the total of the previous 25 years. A west Texas outbreak beginning Jan. 20, 2025, in Gaines County killed two children and sickened at least 760, and thousands more nationwide contracted measles. The Pan American Health Organization will assess in April whether the same virus strain persisted uninterrupted for 12 months; if so, the U.S. would lose elimination status. CDC scientists are sequencing viruses to determine transmission chains. Public health experts attribute spread to federal policy changes that undermined vaccine access and public messaging.
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