Rise in measles worries doctors

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Ricky investigates measles rise

The number of people who have caught measles this year in England and Wales is higher now than for 13 years.

More than 1,000 people have been trying not to scratch spots in 2008, because people are scared of the medicine that's supposed to stop the disease.

An injection called the MMR should keep the bug under control, but in recent years there have been worries that it causes other health problems.

That has to led to lots of children not being given it, and more measles cases.

Click here to find out more about measles and the MMR

Ricky spoke to Dr Mike Fitzpatrick, who told him: "We're seeing a return of a problem that we thought we had seen the back of."

Ricky spoke to Dr Fitzpatrick

Health experts are worried that as many as three million children may not have been given the medicine the MMR injection contains, which would have helped stop the disease from spreading.

That could mean the number of cases of measles will rocket to between 30,000 and 100,000, and that's just in England.

In Cheshire more than 10,000 children are being given vaccinations to stop them catching measles, after an outbreak of 60 cases.

Link to autism?

The problems with the MMR started when a doctor said it could cause children to develop something called autism.

Since then lots and lots of research has been done into the links between the MMR and autism, and most experts and doctors say their studies can find no link at all. They say all children should get the MMR.

The MMR doesn't just stop measles - it also combats mumps and rubella as well - and the medicine carried in the injection is the only way to stop them.