Patrick has initiated an important thread on measles and vaccination.
A Measles-Free Future
Here is another disease which does not fit Sanford’s genetic entropy - the idea that a pathogen’s accumulated mutation, much of the change appearing to be degenerative, is correlated with attenuated virulence leading to natural pandemic cessation and viral extinction. Measles is a highly contagious RNA virus. From CDC:
Measles is highly communicable, with greater than 90% secondary attack rates among susceptible persons.
Although risk of death under modern care is slight but real:
Death from measles was reported in approximately 0.2% of the cases in the United States from 1985 through 1992.
Highly contagious but not highly virulent is a recipe for a persistent virus. Far from extinct, this virus has been successfully passing down its genetic payload over generations since 500 AD at least. Nothing in this epidemiology is compatible with Sanford’s genetic entropy.