Barnet could face a measles epidemic if parents do not vaccinate their children, one of the borough’s top medical experts has warned.

Reported cases of the virus, which can kill and maim children, have rocketed in the borough over the last year and health authorities are urging parents to take preventative action.

Dr Andrew Burnett, Barnet Primary Care Trust’s director for health improvement said: “There is now a significant risk of a measles epidemic in Barnet.

“Last year, we saw a big increase in the number of children and adults getting measles when the schools went back after the summer holiday.”

Since the beginning of 2008 61 suspected cases of measles have been reported in Barnet, 37 of which were confirmed after laboratory tests.

By contrast their were only 47 suspected cases in the whole of 2007.

Several children and adults with measles in Barnet have been hospitalised because of the virus, with one child so ill he was put on a ventilator for several days.

By the 1990s the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine had almost wiped out measles but in the last decade it has made a come-back as the number of parents vaccinating their children has declined.

A research study undertaken in 1998 produced controversial evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and the behavioural condition autism, which is thought to have deterred parents.

However, since then several studies in different countries, involving millions of subjects, have shown that there is no evidence of a link.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause pneumonia, inflammation of the brain and can kill.

If young girls are not vaccinated they run the risk of contracting rubella while pregnant, which in 90 per cent of cases either kills the baby or results in serious birth defects.

Dr Burnett added: “I urge parents to protect their children against this very real danger by ensuring that they have at least one dose of MMR vaccine.

“Infectious diseases still maim and kill. Immunisation is safe and is the most effective way to protect against these entirely avoidable diseases.”