BOLTON is continuing to buck a disturbing national trend against measles vaccination, with jab levels near those needed to prevent a local epidemic.

This week Dr Angus Nicholl, director of the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Centre, warned of a possible national outbreak of the disease, which can be fatal, among primary school children.

His concerns stem from latest figures which show -- following a health scare about the safety of the three-in-one measles, mumps and rubella vaccine -- that only 74pc of children under five are receiving the injection.

To safeguard against an epidemic, levels need to be maintained at around 95pc.

Before the scare two years ago, which mentioned a possible link between the vaccine and autism and bowel disease, Bolton was achieving this percentage. But while many parents in other areas then failed to take their children for the jab, the vaccination rate in Bolton only dipped to 92pc.

A Government inquiry later concluded there was no link between the vaccine and the two conditions.

Latest figures show confidence about the MMR vaccine in Bolton is returning, with 93pc of children now being taken for the jab.

Bolton was one of the pioneers of the MMR vaccine when it was launched in 1988 and Bolton's consultant in communicable disease control, Dr Robert Aston, is a vociferous advocate of the need for immunisation. But while he says the uptake of MMR in Bolton is among the top 10 health authorities in the country, there is no room for complacency if an epidemic is to be prevented.

Earlier this year Jamie Maher, aged three, of Tonge Moor, was confirmed as the first person in the town to contract measles for seven years after catching the illness in Ireland.

Dr Aston praised health workers for the high immunisation uptake, but warned measles could become more common unless parents continued to take their children for the MMR jabs. "We have an excellent record in Bolton but the levels are still not good enough," he said.