LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Americas was the only region in the world that eliminated endemic measles - until Monday. Canada has now had local transmission of the highly infectious virus for 12 straight months. Experts worry the U.S. could soon follow. NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: In the past year, the United States' neighbor to the north has seen more than 5,000 measles cases. And it's not just Canada. In the Americas overall, there's been a thirtyfold increase in cases compared to last year, with the vast majority happening in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
NINA SCHWALBE: It's incredibly disappointing and sad because measles is an entirely preventable disease.
EMANUEL: Nina Schwalbe is with Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Policy and Politics. Measles can be life threatening, but it can be avoided with two doses of a vaccine. The target is 95% of people immunized, but rates have dropped to 79% in the Americas.
SCHWALBE: It speaks to a lack of confidence in vaccines, which is hitting everywhere in the world.
EMANUEL: She says this is driven by misinformation about vaccines, including from high-level politicians like President Trump and Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The U.S. has seen big measles outbreaks since January of this year.
SCHWALBE: The U.S. is not far behind Canada. It's likely, certainly in the first quarter of next year, we'll lose our status.
EMANUEL: But Daniel Salas of the Pan American Health Organization says he's optimistic the region can regain its measles-free status. A handful of years ago, he says Venezuela and Brazil lost their status but were able to get it back later.
DANIEL SALAS: In the case of Venezuela, for example, they had, like, for almost three years a very, very aggressive, active search of cases throughout all the country.
EMANUEL: And Brazil, he says, zeroed in on communities with low vaccination rates and came up with targeted strategies.
SALAS: Identifying influencers - positive influencers that can help, for example, in the moment that there is a fake news or something that might raise panic in the population.
EMANUEL: Their success, he says, proves these strategies can be enough to stop measles in its tracks.
Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARMS AND SLEEPERS' "WHEN THE BODY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.