Mumps is back and GPs are in the frontline.
As predicted...
"Some 1,352 cases of mumps were reported between April and June 2004 ­ the highest in the seven years since records began

·MMR uptake fell to 80 per cent across the UK in 2003/4

·Uptake of first MMR vaccine by age five also fell by 0.5 per cent and coverage of the preschool booster plunged by 0.6 per cent in the last quarter

The country-wide outbreak started several years ago and so far there have been 3,756 confirmed cases in the first nine months of 2004 compared with just over 372 in 1999 ­ the cause is in part due to how the MMR programme was implemented in the 1990s and in part to the ongoing concern about adverse vaccine events and its knock-on effect on MMR uptake.

False syllogisms, teddy bears, causality and MMR

Most parents are not trained in analysing clinical evidence, yet they can spend hours on the internet, and reach dangerous conclusions about whether to immunise their children.

"Many parents, wanting to do the best for their children, have been convinced by apparently logical arguments for a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Aristotle, the father of logic, introduced the concept of syllogisms: "An argument in which, when certain prepositions have been laid down, something distinct from these is seen to follow necessarily from their existence". Not all syllogisms are valid: an invalid, or false, syllogism is an apparently logical but in fact illogical argument, for example "All cats have four legs. This animal (a horse) has four legs. Therefore the animal is a cat".

How not to do science

I cannot help but touch on this as I am always getting asked if I would give my child the MMR.

It has been said,

"An unimmunised child is the infectious equivalent of a drunk driver"

MMR, autism, and Adam

"Adam was born in January 1990. His early development was uneventful though slow by comparison with that of his older sister. At 15 months, when Adam received his measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, he was beginning to articulate two word utterances. After 18 months, however, Adam began to show signs which gave my wife and me cause for concern..."


MMR...the evidence?

"More media circuses about vaccinating children with MMR, and the "association" of MMR vaccination with autism and inflammatory bowel disease. Frightening stuff, but much heat and little light."


MP raises new allegations against Andrew Wakefield

Authors reject interpretation linking autism and MMR vaccine

MMR Myths and Truths