Scientists have found new evidence to support fears that
                                        the MMR vaccine is causing children to develop autism
                                        and bowel disease, The Telegraph can reveal today.

                                        Specialists from Trinity College, Dublin, have detected the
                                        strain of measles virus used in the MMR jab in tissue
                                        samples from the inflamed intestines of 12 children, who
                                        each developed autism after receiving the injection. 

                                        The results will add further weight to claims that MMR may
                                        be responsible for a rapid rise in autism in children over
                                        the past decade. 

                                        The Department of Health has repeatedly dismissed
                                        concerns about its safety, saying epidemiological studies
                                        have failed to find a link to autism. It has infuriated
                                        worried parents by refusing to allow the alternative of
                                        single vaccines to be prescribed on the NHS.

                                        The work was carried out by Prof John O'Leary, a
                                        pathologist with a record of important discoveries in the
                                        field of virology. Although the finding does not prove that
                                        the MRR jab caused autism and bowel disease in the
                                        children, it raises urgent questions about the vaccine's
                                        role in their condition. 

                                        None of the children concerned had shown any sign of
                                        disease beforehand. The discovery comes days after the
                                        Government seized on a new study to bolster its claims
                                        that the MMR vaccine is safe. 

                                        The review, from a commercial company which lists the
                                        Department of Health as one of its clients, did not,
                                        however, consider work published since 1998 by scientists
                                        concerned about MMR.

                                        Prof O'Leary's results have been made public in a precis
                                        of a scientific presentation released ahead of a meeting of
                                        the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland next
                                        month. It was greeted with alarm by parents last night.

                                        Jackie Fletcher, of the parents' group JABS, said the
                                        findings had profound implications and must be taken
                                        seriously. "We have parents shouting that these problems
                                        are occuring and what do the Government and health
                                        chiefs do - they keep their heads buried in old reports not
                                        designed to identify these problems," she said. "No one is
                                        listening. Why?"

                                        Ann Hewitt, whose son Thomas, eight, has severe autism
                                        and bowel problems, learned earlier this year that Dr
                                        O'Leary had found measles virus in the boy's gut. She
                                        and scores of others who received the same news now
                                        want to know what is going on. 

                                        The new results follow a study by Prof O'Leary and his
                                        colleagues, reported in February, in which they found
                                        measles virus of unknown origin in gut biopsies from 75
                                        of 91 autistic children with bowel problems. 

                                        Measles virus was found in only five of 70 normal
                                        youngsters. The team now claims that the new study
                                        corroborates their earlier work linking measles virus with
                                        the condition and "indicates the origins of the virus to be
                                        vaccine strain".

                                        Last night Visceral, a charity set up to fund research into
                                        autism and bowel disease, called for MMR to be
                                        suspended until studies establish just what the
                                        vaccine-strain virus is doing. MMR, which contains live
                                        measles mumps and rubella virus, was launched in the UK
                                        in 1988 and is given to infants at 12-15 months and four
                                        years.

                                        The samples tested in Dublin were from some of nearly
                                        200 youngsters diagnosed with developmental disorder
                                        and "new variant inflammatory bowel disease" by doctors
                                        at the Royal Free Hospital, in London, where Dr Andrew
                                        Wakefield worked until he was ousted last December. 

                                        The controversy over MMR and autism began four years
                                        ago when Dr Wakefield and his colleagues reported in The
                                        Lancet on 12 children with autistic problems and bowel
                                        disease and revealed that the parents of eight of them
                                        had said their children regressed developmentally after
                                        receiving the MMR jab.

                                        While the genetic code of the strain of measles virus used
                                        in MMR differs only minutely from that of the virus
                                        responsible for natural infections, Prof O'Leary and his
                                        colleagues were able to use a commercially produced
                                        molecular probe to distinguish the two.

                                        The probe was designed to detect a single difference in
                                        the genetic code of the viruses and to give off a
                                        fluorescent signal when it does so. The MMR row became
                                        so heated this year that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister -
                                        who has refused to say whether his two-year-old son Leo
                                        has had the MMR jab - accused Dr Wakefield and the
                                        media of "scaremongering" on the issue. 

                                        The chief medical officer, Professor Liam Donaldson, has
                                        indicated he would rather resign than abandon official
                                        policy on the three-in-one vaccine.

                                        Dr Wakefield said last night: "Prof O'Leary and colleagues
                                        have now provided what may prove to be the most
                                        important piece of evidence to date in the case against
                                        the MMR vaccine. Parents must at the very least be given
                                        a choice of single vaccines.

                                        "Not to do so in the face of these data and all the other
                                        evidence we have now published would be negligent in
                                        the extreme. It is not acceptable to assume that this
                                        vaccine virus is an innocent bystander if your concern is
                                        for the safety of the children."

                                        The Department of Health said that it had no plans to
                                        review the use of MMR. "This study, if true, does not
                                        prove that MMR causes the condition of autism just
                                        because the virus is present in the gut. Critical will be
                                        independent testing of the teams' samples, which has long
                                        been awaited," said a spokesman.