[Socon-Econ]

I recall when almost every kid caught the measles and people thought nothing of it. Parents threw German measles parties for their daughters so they wouldn’t bear deformed children. How did we manage to survive?

[GrootheWanderer]

Hard to believe people could have been that stupid. Measles are a serious business.

[JohnBovenmyer]

'German measles' = rubella is usually inconsequential so long as not pregnant. Measles = rubeola is frequently more severe. Especially if you don't get it until you are past the 'healthy little kid with super fast and strong immune response' stage. And, because it's the most contagious human disease, if you are exposed and neither had it nor its vaccine you ARE going to get it. Illegals may provide index cases, but non-immune Americans are its force multipliers. If a high enough percentage is immune it dies out. If not high enough it outbreak grows quickly. When East and West met, post Columbus, it was likely the 2nd biggest imported killer to smallpox.

Fortunately, unlike coronaviruses, measles and its cousins (Canine distemper, Rinderpest) can be made into good, conventional vaccines. Granted enough human cooperation, measles can be eradicated and deserves to be the next big target of such if we can ever finish off polio. Its bovine cousin, Rinderpest [Dutch for 'cattle plague'], already has been eradicated via animal vaccination. Rinderpest infected a range of animals, but not people, so modern folks discount it out of ignorance. But for its target animals it was as bad, or even worse, than bubonic plague or smallpox for people.

[gitmo]

I’m in my 70’s. I never had measles, mumps, or chicken pox. I was around kids with those diseases. The only such disease I ever caught was Scarlet Fever.