Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback

[Guest guest]

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening. <redhead60707@...> wrote: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common

killer, is resurfacing. The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates. The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles. After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005. The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a

traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies. “He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source. The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated. “The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London. “All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.” Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also

investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years. Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide. However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous. In the past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had

employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998. “We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.” Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths. In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004. A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he

denies. Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice.

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[Guest guest]

Could not this boy's chronic lung condition and the drugs he was taking for that condition have had something to do with his untimely demise from measles, if indeed his death did occur "from measles"? Why is it that when children show adverse effects after a vaccine, there is no "proof" that the vaccine caused the reaction, even if there is a "temporal association"? Yet, if a child succumbs to what used to be a common childhood illness, a big to-do is made if the child had not been vaccinated. What about the way more numerous cases of children who contract these illnesses, despite having been vaccinated? I would think that in the case of the unfortunate boy that Deer wrote about, lack of having the MMR vaccine did not compromise this boy's health. It would be interesting to know more about the chronic lung condition that the boy had, and how that may have affected him.

Aasa Maurine Meleck <maurine_meleck@...> wrote: OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening. <redhead60707@...> wrote: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common killer, is resurfacing. The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates. The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles. After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally

is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005. The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies. “He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source. The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated. “The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London. “All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.” Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years. Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide. However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous. In the

past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998. “We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.” Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths. In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004. A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or

early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he denies. Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice. Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

[Guest guest]

Measles is killing children in Britain!

The Bird Flu is coming!

Great idea- let's inject some mercury into babies!

Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common killer, is resurfacing. The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates.

The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles.

After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005.

The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies.

“He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source.

The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated.

“The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London.

“All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.”

Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years.

Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide.

However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous.

In the past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998.

“We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.”

Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths.

In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004.

A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he denies.

Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice.

[Guest guest]

I think it's sad that this child died.

Debi

-- In EOHarm , H <stratpat@...> wrote:

>

> Measles is killing children in Britain!

> The Bird Flu is coming!

>

> Great idea- let's inject some mercury into babies!

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/1/2006 8:58:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, maurine_meleck@... writes:

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening.

It's horrific! Poor Dr. Wakefield! I had the honor of meeting Dr. Wakefield today at the Long Island, New York Autism Fair/Conference and it truly was an honor!

Vicki 's Mommy HFA/Mercury Poisoned 9 years old

[Guest guest]

Something like 50% of measles deaths are due to pharma drugs, along with most, probably all, chickenpox deaths. People like Deer, who is leading the media smear campaign on Wakefield will seize on any straw to promote MMR

"About half the deaths from measles in the past were in children with illnesses like leukemia who could not be immunised because of the suppression of their immune system by disease or therapies such as anti-cancer drugs and steroids."-- Ince, Prof of neuropathology, Sheffield University

Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback

Could not this boy's chronic lung condition and the drugs he was taking for that condition have had something to do with his untimely demise from measles, if indeed his death did occur "from measles"? Why is it that when children show adverse effects after a vaccine, there is no "proof" that the vaccine caused the reaction, even if there is a "temporal association"? Yet, if a child succumbs to what used to be a common childhood illness, a big to-do is made if the child had not been vaccinated. What about the way more numerous cases of children who contract these illnesses, despite having been vaccinated?

I would think that in the case of the unfortunate boy that Deer wrote about, lack of having the MMR vaccine did not compromise this boy's health. It would be interesting to know more about the chronic lung condition that the boy had, and how that may have affected him. Aasa Maurine Meleck <maurine_meleck@...> wrote:

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening. <redhead60707@...> wrote:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common killer, is resurfacing. The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates.

The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles.

After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005.

The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies.

“He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source.

The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated.

“The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London.

“All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.”

Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years.

Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide.

However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous.

In the past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998.

“We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.”

Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths.

In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004.

A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he denies.

Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice.

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.4/299 - Release Date: 31/03/2006

[Guest guest]

No one has challenged Wakefield's findings that the measles vaccine can induce infantile regional ilieitis;

the London Times has launched a vicious slander campaign against Wakefield and any physicians that support his views.

H. H. Fudenberg, M.D.

(864) 592 8076.

From: BSL1229@...Reply-EOHarm To: EOHarm Subject: Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comebackDate: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 03:06:51 EDT

In a message dated 4/1/2006 8:58:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, maurine_meleck@... writes:

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening.

It's horrific! Poor Dr. Wakefield! I had the honor of meeting Dr. Wakefield today at the Long Island, New York Autism Fair/Conference and it truly was an honor!

Vicki 's Mommy HFA/Mercury Poisoned 9 years old

[Guest guest]

Aasa

What might stop this is a class-action slander suit against the London Times

by parents who've been termed "lunatics" for opposing vaccination and docs who've been termed quacks for supporting them.

So says one of my sons, a Professor of Law.

From: "john" <scu23@...>Reply-EOHarm To: <EOHarm >Subject: Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comebackDate: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 07:08:04 +0100

Something like 50% of measles deaths are due to pharma drugs, along with most, probably all, chickenpox deaths. People like Deer, who is leading the media smear campaign on Wakefield will seize on any straw to promote MMR

"About half the deaths from measles in the past were in children with illnesses like leukemia who could not be immunised because of the suppression of their immune system by disease or therapies such as anti-cancer drugs and steroids."-- Ince, Prof of neuropathology, Sheffield University

Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback

Could not this boy's chronic lung condition and the drugs he was taking for that condition have had something to do with his untimely demise from measles, if indeed his death did occur "from measles"? Why is it that when children show adverse effects after a vaccine, there is no "proof" that the vaccine caused the reaction, even if there is a "temporal association"? Yet, if a child succumbs to what used to be a common childhood illness, a big to-do is made if the child had not been vaccinated. What about the way more numerous cases of children who contract these illnesses, despite having been vaccinated?

I would think that in the case of the unfortunate boy that Deer wrote about, lack of having the MMR vaccine did not compromise this boy's health. It would be interesting to know more about the chronic lung condition that the boy had, and how that may have affected him. Aasa Maurine Meleck <maurine_meleck@...> wrote:

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening. <redhead60707@...> wrote:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html

Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common killer, is resurfacing.

The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates.

The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles.

After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005.

The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies.

“He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source.

The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated.

“The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London.

“All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.”

Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years.

Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide.

However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous.

In the past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998.

“We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.”

Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths.

In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004.

A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he denies.

Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice.

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.4/299 - Release Date: 31/03/2006

[Guest guest]

right you are. If you have friends in Britain they might wish to threaten Deere's

eemployer, the London Times, for calling parents who prevent their kids from

being immunized "misguided at the best,

raving lunatics at the worst."

Sincerely,

H.H. Fudenberg, M.D., D.D.G., I.O.M.

226 Edgewater Road

Inman, SC 29349

864-592-8076

nitrf@hotmailcom

From: "john" <scu23@...>Reply-EOHarm To: <EOHarm >Subject: Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comebackDate: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 07:08:04 +0100

Something like 50% of measles deaths are due to pharma drugs, along with most, probably all, chickenpox deaths. People like Deer, who is leading the media smear campaign on Wakefield will seize on any straw to promote MMR

"About half the deaths from measles in the past were in children with illnesses like leukemia who could not be immunised because of the suppression of their immune system by disease or therapies such as anti-cancer drugs and steroids."-- Ince, Prof of neuropathology, Sheffield University

Re: Deer-Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback

Could not this boy's chronic lung condition and the drugs he was taking for that condition have had something to do with his untimely demise from measles, if indeed his death did occur "from measles"? Why is it that when children show adverse effects after a vaccine, there is no "proof" that the vaccine caused the reaction, even if there is a "temporal association"? Yet, if a child succumbs to what used to be a common childhood illness, a big to-do is made if the child had not been vaccinated. What about the way more numerous cases of children who contract these illnesses, despite having been vaccinated?

I would think that in the case of the unfortunate boy that Deer wrote about, lack of having the MMR vaccine did not compromise this boy's health. It would be interesting to know more about the chronic lung condition that the boy had, and how that may have affected him. Aasa Maurine Meleck <maurine_meleck@...> wrote:

OMG-they're gonna give Wakefield the rap for evrything. This is sickening. <redhead60707@...> wrote:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2114632,00.html

Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback Deer

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first person in Britain for 14 years to die of measles in a sign that the disease, once a common killer, is resurfacing.

The boy’s death is the first since the scare over the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused a drop in immunisation rates.

The World Health Organisation recommends vaccination of 95% of the population to ensure “herd immunity” and prevent outbreaks of measles.

After the MMR scare in 1998, rates fell to 80% nationally. In some areas, particularly in London, take-up has sometimes fallen almost as low as 50%. The number of confirmed measles cases nationally is already 100 for the first three months of this year, compared with 77 for the whole of 2005.

The victim, who had not received the MMR vaccine, is understood to have lived in a traveller community and was already on drugs for a chronic lung condition. He had been overlooked by health agencies.

“He slipped through the net when he was younger and never caught up,” said a source.

The Health Protection Agency, the government authority which monitors infectious diseases, said that following the boy’s death near Manchester last month more than 100 traveller children had been vaccinated.

“The first death from acute measles infection in 14 years ought to bring home to people how serious this disease can be,” said Professor Elliman, consultant in community child health at St ’s hospital, south London.

“All the evidence now shows unequivocally there is no justification for leaving children unprotected.”

Separately, it emerged on Friday that 32 measles cases had been confirmed in the area of Doncaster, south Yorkshire, so far this year. The health authority said it was also investigating 36 suspected cases in the biggest outbreak of the disease there in recent years.

Following the introduction of MMR in 1988, immunisation against measles among children at age two rose from about 75% to 92%, bringing hopes that in developed countries measles would be eradicated in the way smallpox has been worldwide.

However, this success was badly damaged following research by Dr Wakefield, a former gut surgeon working at the Royal Free hospital medical school, London. In the late 1990s he claimed to have found evidence linking MMR first to inflammatory bowel disease and then to autism. His work was later discredited. Following Wakefield’s research, MMR take-up slumped to as low as 73% as parents became worried that the vaccine was dangerous.

In the past year rates have edged upwards again following a Sunday Times investigation. This showed that, when Wakefield made his claims, he was funded by lawyers who had employed him to build a case against the vaccine before he publicly called for it to be suspended in February 1998.

“We have anecdotal evidence that parents are still being put off by Wakefield’s stuff,” said Doncaster health authority, which has also recorded 100 cases of mumps this year. “We have around 85% of children immunised, and the only way we are going to stop these outbreaks is to get this rate higher.”

Before single measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, there were commonly more than 100,000 cases in Britain every year and as many as 100 annual deaths.

In recent years confirmed infections have fluctuated at a fraction of those levels: 308 in 2002, 438 in 2003 and 191 in 2004.

A final resolution to the MMR controversy is not expected until later this year or early next year, when Wakefield faces hearings before the General Medical Council over allegations of dishonesty, which he denies.

Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls using Messenger with Voice.

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.3.4/299 - Release Date: 31/03/2006