Montevideo, Aug 15 (Sputnik) .- Measles, a viral infection with great risk of contagion and serious health complications, has become a dangerous threat in the Americas, with more than 10,000 new cases of a disease that was believed to be missing, alerted several experts consulted by the Sputnik agency.
«The situation of measles in the region is very worrying, especially for what comes especially from North America, with Canada, Mexico and the USA. The figures really worry, the number of cases of a disease that a few years ago thought that it had been eliminated has been increased very notably, ”confirmed the Colombian epidemiologist Alfonso Rodriguez Morales, president of the Latin American Society of Medicine of the Traveler.
The also vice president of the Latin American Alliance of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology said that, in a short time, there is an “epidemic” of measles in several countries since in some cases the number has “tripled or multiplied many times more.”
The expert warned that “unfortunately” cases have also been seen in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, “which has once again shown a strong concern and a clear need for joint work, especially in regard to the education and correct dissemination of the information associated with measles.”
Faced with this “worrying scenario,” the Bolivian epidemiologist Virgilio Prieto, a professor at the Gabriel René Morenose Autonomous University, added that there is another element of complication: “It is one of the viral infections with the highest propagation speed,” he said.
“An infected can spread between 12 and 18 people who are less than 10 meters away at the same time and cause serious complications,” said the doctor.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that measles is one of the “most contagious diseases on the planet”, and that 90 percent of people who are not immunized and have direct contact with an infected, will contract the disease.
Figures
According to the most recent statement of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), published this Friday, the region of the Americas reports 10,139 confirmed cases and 18 deaths until August 8, 2025.
“This number represents an increase of 34 times higher compared to the same 2024 period,” the international agency warned in the document.
In total, nine countries in the region have notified cases this year, being Canada (4,548 cases and a death), Mexico (3,911 cases and 14 deaths) and the United States (1,356 cases and three deaths) those that concentrate the largest number of sick people and deaths.
In addition, Bolivia has also reported cases (229), followed by Argentina (35), Belize (34), Brazil (17), Paraguay (4), Peru (4) and Costa Rica (1); In all these countries, shoots occurred from imports from other states inside and outside the region and the most affected groups are children under five and adolescents between 10 and 19 years.
PAHO ensures that it is necessary for countries to maintain a 95 percent coverage with two doses of the measles vaccine, particularly in communities with low coverage or active outbreaks.
Worldwide, measles also presents an upward trend: according to the World Health Organization, until July 2025, 239,816 suspicious cases and 108,074 confirmed in all regions had been recorded.
Measles kills about 300 people a day, which is equivalent to about 12 people every hour, mostly boys and girls under five years, reports UNICEF.
Symptoms
Prieto explained that the disease, initially, manifests itself as spots and granites that come out, primarily in the face, but can occur anywhere in the body and then spread.
«Exanthema (appearance of spots and granites) lasts more or less four or five days, but four days before, the infected person is already transmitting the disease. There lies the real danger, ”he added.
As more frequent complications, the expert pointed to the ear and the view to the point of causing blindness or deafness.
“The most important thing is that it can cause pneumonia and this can lead to death especially to children,” he said.
UNICEF reports that measles can also generate intense diarrhea, blindness, and encephalitis (cerebral edema), in addition that it can “weaken the immune system of the person who suffers from it and increase the risk of suffering other infections long after having recovered from measles, a phenomenon that is called immune amnesia.”
Most vulnerable sectors
Both specialists noted that in populations with high levels of malnutrition and lack of adequate health care, measles can have a lethality between 10 and 30 percent, which is a “dangerous threat” taking into account that Latin America is the most unequal region in the world.
«Without a doubt, measles is a threat at this time. Unfortunately, those who will affect more is the most vulnerable populations, the socioeconomically unattended populations and it is in these sectors where the consequences of the disease must be very present. High levels of malnutrition and lack of adequate health care generate more deaths due to measles, ”Rodriguez Morales reflected.
Asked about whether the health systems of the region are prepared at a possible expansion of the disease, he considered that the situation in Latin America is “very heterogeneous”, but indicated that “surely” it could be said that countries such as Chile, that they have a public health system “very robust”, is prepared before a possible expansion of the disease.
However, it has “many doubts” about countries such as Venezuela, because vaccination coverage for all diseases have “fallen very significantly” and has an “very weak” epidemiological surveillance system.
«It is crucial that all countries intensify public health functions to contain outbreaks (…) In some cases, from politics and without technical knowledge, it is thought that it is a simple disease, which does not have greater complications, but they do not know that it can be associated with fatal outcome. Vaccination effectively and safely protects this disease, ”he warned.
Vaccination
On April 28, PAHO assured that the general risk of measles in the region of the Americas is considered “high” because there is a “continuous circulation of the virus” and a “sub-optimal” vaccination coverage persists.
The agency recommended coverage greater than 95 percent, but the regional average in 2024 was only 87 percent and only 28.6 percent of the countries reached higher coverage, according to data from 2023.
As measures, Rodríguez Morales indicated that it is necessary to boost a battery of policies, handling aspects of vaccine reserve and distribution, strategies focused on risk populations, such as migrants, vulnerable sectors and travelers, and increase the surveillance of suspicious cases.
However, with these actions it is still necessary to address a “much more complex and crucial” issue: the role of education in the defense of vaccination, he said.
«The fight against measles is also a struggle against misinformation. (…) It must be recognized that there is a phenomenon of vaccination reluctance and we must work in a coordinated way and be open, transparent, educate and again recover confidence through correct information and scientific evidence, ”he said.
Both Prieto and Rodriguez Morales stressed that after the Covid-19 Pandemia, the anti-vacuum groups have influenced some sectors of the population to distrust about the effectiveness and safety of vaccination.
«We have really had a negative impact after pandemic. This has made, in general, vaccination coverage ceases to be efficient in terms of disease prevention, so adequate coverage is not achieved, which has made the susceptible populations multiply in the last four years. To change this it is necessary for people to have confidence that vaccination is the most effective prevention method, ”said Prieto. (Sputnik)
