EXPERTS in the region have appealed again for parents to back the controversial MMR vaccine, while playing down talk of a measles outbreak.

Fears have been fanned this week by reports of four suspected measles cases in the Gateshead area.

This follows reports of five confirmed measles cases in County Durham and 22 in Streatham, south London.

Concerns over possible links with autism and bowel disease have been blamed for a drop in the number of parents having their children immunised with the triple vaccine.

More than 1,000 North-East families have agreed to pay £240 each to have separate jabs at a private clinic at Darlington's Woodlands Hospital.

But Dr Vivien Holyoake, at the Northern and Yorkshire Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, said there was no sign of a significant measles outbreak.

Every year, the Northern and Yorkshire centre sees about 300 suspected cases of measles. The vast majority are caused by other viruses, she said.

Last year, there were only three confirmed measles cases, out of 298 suspected cases, in the region.

Four of the confirmed cases in County Durham this year were in young adults too old to have had the MMR vaccine.

The other case, in Durham, involves a five-year-old who did not complete a vaccination programme.

Dr Holyoake said: "People should seriously consider having their child vaccinated with MMR. Measles can cause deafness or encephalitis, which can be fatal."

While MMR vaccination figures in the North-East are near the average, there has been a drop recently.

County Durham and Darlington Health Authority has seen MMR uptake rates tumble from 94.7 per cent in 1996 to 89.9 per cent.

Tees Health Authority recorded an uptake rate as low as 77.6 per cent in the quarter ending June last year, although the most recent figure was up to 81.4 per cent.

In North Yorkshire, the rate for two-year-olds is 85.1 per cent.

Suzanne Davenport, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, who is considering having separate injections for her one-year-old son, Christopher, said: "There is a real crisis of confidence in the triple vaccine.