WHO warns that measles cases in the Americas have increased elevenfold in one year.
So far this year, 2,318 cases of measles have been reported in six countries in the Americas (98% of them in the United States, Canada and Mexico), eleven times more than in the same period in 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday.
Of the cases on the continent, 800 were reported in ten outbreaks in the United States, 421 in Mexico, 1,069 in Canada, five in Brazil, two in Belize, and 21 in Argentina, according to a report on the disease's status on the continent.
READ: How many Catholics did Pope Francis bring into the Church?Most cases have occurred in children or young people (under 29 years old) who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, the WHO said, who also noted that many of the positive cases affected travelers from other regions of the planet or infections related to those imported cases.
Given this increase, the WHO assessed the risk of measles in the Americas as "high," while globally it is only moderate.
You may be interested in: The Vatican closes the Sistine Chapel to prepare for the conclave.The WHO recalled that measles is a disease that can be prevented with vaccination, but that some 22 million children did not receive their first dose to immunize themselves against this disease in 2023.
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