New figures reveal cases at 20-year high in the wake of panic over MMR safety.

MORE than 400 people have been struck down with measles in England and Wales this year - the highest number since records began.
Last year just 77 got the potentially fatal illness.
The latest figures were released by the Health Protection Agency as it warned of a large scale outbreak.

Dr Chris says: : I've no hesitation in saying you must let her have the MMR vaccine. People just don't realise that measles kill 1 million children globally, and can cause deafness, pneumonia and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain that can cause convulsions, coma and death!). Because of the falling uptake of this vaccine, 3 months ago, a child died from measles - the first in 14 years. Last year there were 77 measles cases, and this year already there have been 449 cases, so measles is spreading - and your daughter needs protecting. I have just had my own granddaughter vaccinated with MMR - need I say any more? Just let me reassure you that the MMR dose not cause autism.

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said: "People think measles is a trivial disease but it is not. Some people unfortunately died and some were debilitated in the past. Our message to parents is to get their children vaccinated to reduce the risk."

Research published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr Andrew Wakefield led to a decline in MMR immunization rates from above 90% to 79% in January 2003.The fall was accelerated by the controversy over Tony Blair's refusal to say whether Leo had been vaccinated. Since 2003, rates had risen again to 83 per cent. Dr Wakefield is to be charged with serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council. Charges are being prepared accusing him of "inadequately founded" research, obtaining "improper funding" and conducting "unnecessary and invasive investigations" on children.