One year after a measles outbreak erupted in Canada, the country has lost its measles elimination status — a designation it has held since 1998.

The Public Health Agency of Canada was notified Monday by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that the country no longer holds the designation.

Canada was stripped of its elimination status because there has been sustained transmission of the highly infectious virus in the country for more than 12 months, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the PAHO, said at a Monday press conference.

“The endemic transmission of measles has been re-established in Canada,” Barbosa said, adding that there are strict criteria to determine whether a country loses its elimination status.

“This loss represents a setback.”

Canada is the only country in the Am

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