US loses measles-elimination status after 26 years, WSJ reports

The Pan American Health Organization has revoked the United States' measles-elimination status, ending a 26-year run, after finding the country failed to stop the virus spreading continuously for more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A source close to the process told CNN that an independent commission of experts reporting to PAHO's director concluded the US no longer qualified.

PAHO reviewed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evidence on whether one strain had circulated uninterrupted for 12 months or longer, a sign of local spread rather than imported cases . A source familiar with the CDC's findings told Reuters the agency found 12 months of continuous transmission.

The US had held elimination status since 2000. This year, however, the CDC has recorded 5,182 confirmed cases as of Thursday – across 45 states, New York City and Washington, D.C. This is more than double 2025's total of 2,289.

About 7,500 people have been infected and 13 have died since 2025. Nearly all of this year's cases involve people who were unvaccinated or whose status is unknown, and roughly one in nine patients were hospitalized, CNN reported, citing the CDC.

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