Who is to blame for the measles epidemic in Britain?

Health officials in Britain say the country is in the grip of the worst outbreak of measles and have blamed the 20-year high on a loss of confidence in the MMR vaccination.

Some of that blame has been laid squarely at the feet of the doctor who sparked the MMR scare.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield's scientific paper published eight years ago caused millions to shun the vaccination for fear that their children might contract autism.

Fears instigated by Wakefield of a link between MMR, regressive autism and a rare bowel disorder fuelled concern over the triple jab - for measles, mumps and rubella - despite the insistence of government experts and all the Royal Colleges that it is safe.

Wakefield has since been discredited and faces as many as ten counts of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC) for among other things publishing "inadequately founded" research, obtaining funding "improperly" and subjecting children to "unnecessary and invasive investigations" without proper ethical approval.

But bringing the doctor to justice is a slow job as some of the charges against Wakefield, are some of the most extensive seen and are not expected to be heard until early next year.

The council have the power to strike Wakefield off the medical register and it promises to be one of the most high-profile adjudications seen.

Wakefield who has been shunned by colleagues in Britain now runs a business in Austin, Texas, selling surgical tests for autistic children.

The GMC have requested the hearing in an attempt to obtain vital key documents Wakefield has said he has lost or destroyed and follows more than two years of trying.

Experts are anxious to get the case over with as the supposed link between MMR and autism continues to be raised in the media and has had an impact on community health.

Britain is now in the grip of what has every sign of becoming a measles epidemic and the first child in 14 years was killed in March by the virus.

Clusters of infections in Surrey and Yorkshire, have rocketed the number of confirmed cases this year to 449, the largest number since the MMR jab was introduced in 1988.

Dr. Wakefield's critics say the return of what was once a common disease is almost entirely the result of the MMR scare provoked by him.

A paper published by the former gastroenterologist in The Lancet medical journal in February 1998 was the trigger for all that has since followed.

The paper which appeared scientific, claimed that Wakefield and his team had come across a link between the MMR jab - the combined inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella - and the onset of autism in 12 children who had passed through the hospital.