Emergency measures employed to stop measles epidemic

Emergency measures are being adopted in Britain to tackle the escalating numbers of new measles cases.

Since the start of the year there have been more than 200 cases reported in south east London alone, raising concern that 2008 will see more than the record 1,000 which were recorded nationally in 2007.

In order to stem the measles outbreak hospitals and doctors have been told to offer two MMR jabs within the space of two months instead of two years apart.

The MMR jab protects against measles, mumps and rubella and the same tactics were employed in north London last year to halt the spread of measles following a high concentration of cases.

Measles is a highly infectious virus which initially appears as a fever and conjunctivitis prior to a rash developing which normally lasts about a week; other symptoms include a barking cough, sore throat, watery eyes and sensitivity to light.

Complications can include pneumonia and diarrhoea and on average, before the triple vaccine was introduced in the late 1980s, 20 deaths a year were caused by the infection in the UK.

Since the early 1990s there has just been one death.

Experts believe the resurgence of measles is related to the fall in the vaccination rate which was affected by claims in the 1990s that the MMR jab was linked to autism, which along with a traditionally low uptake among itinerant and some religious communities, has allowed the disease to flourish in the capital.

Experts suspect that as many as 40 per cent of parents in some areas are shunning the MMR injection and say large numbers of children are still not fully protected.

Only three quarters of children across London have had the first jab which is given to babies at 13 months of age.

The second jab is normally given before children start school and aims to protect the 1 in 10 who do not get immunity from the first vaccination.

Some ares where the infection rate has been high, have provided special clinics in order that every child under five is immunised and parents of children between five and 16 who have not had the second jab are being urged see their GP.

Fears that the epidemic could spread across the country have prompted the emergency measures needed to halt the disease.

Medical experts have dismissed fears that that giving two doses of the triple vaccine over a short period could "overload" infants' immune systems and claims that the MMR could cause autism and bowel disease have been soundly rejected by respected scientists, government experts and all the Royal Colleges.

Around 500,000 children a year die of measles, mainly in under-developed countries.