Four countries in Europe have lost their measles elimination status.
The World Health Organization said Thursday the disease is no longer considered eliminated in Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and the U.K.
There's been a dramatic surge in measles cases across Europe in recent months. During the first half of this year, there were approximately 90,000 cases reported in the WHO European region. There were only about 84,000 cases recorded for the entire year in 2018.
The director of WHO's Immunization Department told reporters misinformation about the measles vaccine is a big part of the problem.
One WHO official said in a statement: "If high immunization coverage is not achieved and sustained in every community, both children and adults will suffer unnecessarily and some will tragically die."
The news comes just one day after the CDC warned the U.S. is in danger of losing its measles elimination status in October.
