According to health officials, German measles has been eradicated from North and South America. It is the third infectious disease to be removed from the Americas. The two that were eliminated are smallpox and polio.

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been over five years since a case of German measles, also known as rubella, started in either North or South America. Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization said that this is a historic achievement for the Americas.

Experts said that German measles is a viral disease and it spread by coughing and sneezing. When a pregnant woman becomes infected, it can cause birth defects. Back in 1969, the rubella vaccine was first licensed.

The WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) associated the breakthrough to successful vaccine campaigns in North, Central and South America. German measles causes a rash and low-grade fever.

The director of PAHO/WHO, Carissa Etienne said that the American continents had become first region of the world to be declared free of endemic transmission of rubella virus. Back in 2009, the last case of German measles was reported and it made American people free of the virus for five years.

As per PAHO, Europe is scheduled to be declared rubella-free this year. In 1971, smallpox eradicated from North and South America and polio eradicated in 1994. According to Dr. Susan Reef, a rubella expert at the US Centers for Disease Control, just two of the six WHO global regions, Europe and the Americas have aims to eliminate rubella.

"We need the four other regions to establish targeted elimination goals. So I can tell you it will not be before 2020 that the disease is eradicated globally", said Reef.