The Evening Chronicle, 24/03/2003

Family doctors in the north-east of England could soon give single measles, mumps and rubella jabs at their surgeries.

Anxious Tyneside parents have snubbed the combined MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) injection and flocked to visiting single-jab clinics over fears that the triple vaccine could be linked to autism and bowel disorders.

Now a number of National Health Service general practitioners in the North East could be offering an alternative to the triple vaccine.

Despite claims from the medical profession that the combined jab is safe, parents are paying £240 for their children to have three singles. And a London single jab supplier, Healthchoice UK, confirmed on March 24 that it was in talks with doctors in the area. The firm said it would take care of all the paperwork and supply vaccines.

Healthchoice UK's director, Kathryn Durnford, said: "We are doing a deal with doctors as a lot of patients would prefer to go their own GPs. We have been talking to doctors in the North East and some could even start giving single vaccines in a month or less."

A mother-of-two, Leigh Scully, who struggled to find a single jab clinic for her son, Taylor, welcomed the news. Scully, 30, of Preston Grange, North Shields, said: "It would be so much easier if parents could go to their GP for this. But not all will. I have spoken to a number of parents who have come under criticism from their doctor for not wanting MMR."

The triple jab was first introduced in 1988. NHS doctors get a British government fee if they reach MMR targets.

Dr George Rae, the British Medical Association's North East official, said: "Parents are getting a false assurance from single vaccines. This was tried before in Japan and as a result there were 80 measles deaths. This is not a solution to the problem, and the more vaccinations that parents have to get the less likely they are to abide by the course. Single jabs are not the answer. The scientific evidence is that MMR is the way forward."

JOHNSTON, Iowa, USA: The mother of an autistic boy believes that his symptoms may have been alleviated thanks to unusual treatment involving enzyme supplements.

Matthew DeFelice remembers the headaches in vivid, fifth-grader terms. "Pretend my brain is Tokyo," he says. "And then imagine Godzilla coming in and smashing all the buildings."

The "monster" was autism, and it appears to have been tamed. Matthew's mother, Karen DeFelice, believes that the enzyme treatment deserves part of the credit, and she is spreading the word.

DeFelice believes that tiny leaks in her son's stomach contributed to causing the trouble in his brain. She believes she suffered similar problems and passed them on to Matthew, 10, and his brother, Jordan, 9. All three found remarkable relief from enzyme supplements which help them digest food.

DeFelice wrote about her experiences in a book that sold out its first, 1,000-copy printing in a few months in 2002. Despite scepticism from some mainstream doctors and alternative-medicine purists, several thousand more books are headed for bookstores and nutrition shops.

DeFelice is part of a growing movement of frustrated parents who want help for children with brain disorders that physicians admit they do not fully understand.

Her book is based on a theory that digestive problems can poison the brain. Proponents believe that some people have problems breaking down certain foods - including a common grain component called gluten and a dairy protein called casein. That damages the intestines, they say, allowing toxins to escape into the bloodstream and eventually attack the brain.