PRESTON'S public health chiefs are leading the way in encouraging immunisation by having their 20-month-old son vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

Maggi Morris, director of public health for Preston Primary Care Trust (PCT), and husband Professor John Ashton, the North West regional director of public health, have gone public with their son, Che's MMR jab in a bid to boost take-up for the triple vaccine.

It is something many people wanted Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie to do in 2001, to confirm whether their son, Leo, had been given the controversial triple vaccine which some parents fear can cause autism.

It comes as the number of reported cases of mumps in the region has reached epidemic proportions, jumping to 1,500 in the first six weeks of this year, compared to 45 cases during the same period in 2004.

In Preston alone there have already been 28 reported cases of mumps during the first six weeks of this year, and last year the PCT recorded 42 cases of the potentially fatal disease.

The problems which measles, mumps and rubella, also known as German measles, can cause include permanent deafness, viral meningitis and, in men, inflamation of the testicles, and of the ovaries in women.

Yet in recent years, many parents have been put off having their children immunised with the triple vaccine following the publication of a research paper six years ago which suggested a link between MMR and autism. The suggestion that MMR might be linked to autism has been scientifically disproved conclusively," said Prof Ashton.

Now the health duo and are urging parents to help stamp out dangerous childhood diseases by ensuring their children are given the lifelong protection that the two doses of the MMR vaccine provides.

"Mumps, measles and German measles are preventable diseases and our message to all parents is that they should ensure that their children have MMR protection," said Ms Morris. "Currently the MMR uptake rate for North West children is 83 per cent but we really need to have 95 per cent of children vaccinated before they reach the age of two and start socialising in nurseries.

"If we can get the uptake figure above 95 per cent by the age of two, we will be well on our way toward eradicating potentially dangerous diseases. We owe that to our children and to future generations."