THE Pan-American Health Organisation (Paho) issued a new epidemiological alert following a surge of measles cases across the Americas.

Paho called for urgent vaccination campaigns, highlighting that 78 per cent of recent cases involved unvaccinated people.

The alert, announced on Wednesday, follows Canada’s loss of measles-free status in November — a setback the United States and Mexico could soon mirror.

While both governments have requested a two-month extension to contain their respective outbreaks, the situation is complicated by the Trump administration’s January withdrawal from the World Health Organisation, the parent agency of Paho.

Current data is discouraging: the upward trend persists with only months remaining before the 2026 Fifa World Cup kicks off across the three North American host nations.

In the first three weeks of 2026, Paho confirmed 1,031 new measles cases across seven countries — a staggering 43-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

While no deaths have been reported thus far, the concentration remains high: Mexico leads with 740 cases, followed by the United States with 171 and Canada with 67. The figures are likely to be far higher in all countries.

Paho’s alert follows a year of sustained growth in measles cases — the highest in five years — driven by a global resurgence and what the agency describes as “persistent immunisation gaps.”