The Ministry of Health has declared that the outbreak is controlled and hoped to eliminate it completely last month, but every day it continues to confirm cases.
We hope that, by the time of the World Cup, we will no longer have measles as a health risk.
David Kershenobich, Secretary of Health.
Between November 3 and 27, 257 infections were reported, an average of 14 daily. At its peak it reached 300 in a week.
“The number of cases has remained stable, but it is already on a downward trend,” explains Rosa María Wong, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases. And he adds: “The outbreak is considered controlled when there are no more cases, but there are still cases.”
Heading to the World Cup
If Mexico reaches February 2026 with active cases, it will be closer to the start of the World Cup, to be held together in the country, the United States and Canada, which are the American nations with the most infections. In total they account for 95% of the confirmed cases on the continent.
In the United States, since the beginning of the year, infections began. The main measles outbreak, in Texas, was described by local media as the largest in the last 30 years, when it is a disease that had been eradicated in the country since 2000, but which rebounded due to drops in vaccination coverage.
The United States Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is even a recognized anti-vaccine. He was criticized for recommending supplements to treat symptoms and, amid the measles outbreak, encouraging families to seek alternative treatments to the vaccine, the only effective prevention measure.
With a high human mobility and the arrival of foreigners From other continents, where there are also outbreaks, more cases could be imported to the host countries, including Mexico.
The specialist trusts that this will not happen. For this the country must improve vaccination as soon as possible. Thousands of doses have already been applied in different immunization campaigns.
“Hopefully by then it will have been controlled. The important thing is to tell the population that, if they get the vaccine, they are protected and can protect the people around them,” he explains.
“The greater the number of people who have the vaccine and antibodies, the more the virus stops circulating. So, even if a lot of people come, if we have high levels of coverage against measles here, that also reduces the risk of the virus circulating,” he adds.
It is a great challenge due to vaccination gaps. In 2024, Mexico registered coverage of only 83% for the first dose and 78% for the second.
Coverage of at least 95% is needed to protect the population against measles, the most contagious disease for humanity, says Jarbas Barbosa, director general of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO): “One infected person can transmit the disease to up to 18 others.”
At the regional level, coverage is 79%. “But that 79% coverage will not stop the next outbreak or adequately protect our children, families and communities. We must achieve and maintain 95% coverage,” he emphasizes.
