Measles epidemic scares
[back] Viral mania
[back] Infectious scares
[back] Measles
See: Infectious scares
[2007] Measles epidemic fear as parents shun vaccine
[2004] Experts predict measles epidemic
[2003, still waiting. "Unless vaccine uptake improves" ]
Date: 31/10/2003
Doctors warn that Britain will face a measles epidemic this winter unless
parents stop boycotting the MMR jab. Parents have been refusing the jab despite
"unequivocal evidence" that the vaccine was is not linked to autism, according
to Dr Simon Murch, one of the authors of the 1998 study that first sparked fears
of a link between MMR and autism. Writing in The Lancet, Dr Murch says: 'It is
an illogical and potentially dangerous mistake for parents to be prepared to
take their children in a car on the motorway...but not to protect them with the
MMR vaccine.' The latest Government figures reveal that measles cases have
doubled and mumps cases have increased fivefold over the past year.