US has lost measles elimination status, global health authorities say

The U.S.has lost its status as a country where measles is eliminated, a public health triumph secured a quarter century ago.Researchers with direct knowledge of the deliberations on the country's status told KFF Health News that the Pan American Health Organization reached the conclusion this week: Measles has reestablished regular transmission in the country.

PAHO had planned a public announcement on Nov.17.

In public health parlance, measles elimination depends on a country's sporadic outbreaks ending within a year.That's no longer happening in the United States."It's a very sad moment," said Anne Schuchat, an epidemiologist and a former deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who was not involved in PAHO's decision.

"Measles causes so much unnecessary suffering, everything from a high fever and missed work and school to long-term complications like progressive degenerative nerve disease and death," Schuchat said.Measles outbreaks are entirely preventable: Two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine prevent about 97% of infections, so when almost everyone in a community is fully vaccinated, the virus can't spread.In the past two years, over 830 people have been hospitalized with measles in the U.S.More than 8,000 people have been sickened in outbreaks that have cost roughly $125 million in medical care, public health response, and productivity losses, Johns Hopkins University researchers estimate.

States have reported 13 measles-associated deaths, including a 7-month-old in New York and infants in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in recent months.Babies typically aren't vaccinated before they're a year old.PAHO, an international group that oversees health in the Americas and works with the World Health Organization, based its assessment on two analyses: one by the CDC and another by an independent group of measles experts.

Researchers anticipated this conclusion after an outbreak in Utah surpassed the one-year mark in June.A spokesperso...