Doctors believe they will know by early next week the results of tests on eight North East people suspected of having measles.

The privately-run Tik Tok nursery in Hawkes Road, Gateshead, for children between six weeks and five years, confirmed it had one suspected case, and three other children in the area are feared to have contracted the disease.

The other four suspected cases are in North Tyneside.

The latest scare comes only two weeks after five cases were confirmed in Co Durham, but health chiefs insist there is not an outbreak.

However, they warn that if take-up rates of the controversial MMR jab plummet any further there could be such an outbreak.

Gill Sanders, public health director for the Gateshead & South Tyneside Health Authority, said: "Usually there are about 200 cases of measles up and down the country every year.

"The suspected cases in this area aren't unusual and don't constitute an outbreak. But what this highlights is that measles is a highly-unpleasant illness that's entirely preventable.

Dr Sanders added: "Parents don't need to worry and should take up the MMR vaccine for their children".

The measles, mumps and rubella jab has been linked to bowel disorders and autism, although there has been little scientific proof to back this up.

Side effects of measles include brain damage, deafness and blindness.

Meanwhile, Conservative politicians have joined the debate by insisting children should be offered single vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella.

Shadow Health Secretary Liam Fox said he still believed MMR was the safest option, but said the crisis in public confidence over the triple vaccine meant it was "reluctantly" time to offer parents the choice.

Dr Fox explained: "The important thing is that public confidence has fallen to a level, rightly or wrongly, where children are unnecessarily being put at risk. We can't stand back and do nothing at all."

Health officials have also denied that Tony Blair ordered a review of the immunisation programme, and insisted MMR was safe.

A spokesman said: "The Prime Minister's and the Government's position remains absolutely unequivocal: the MMR vaccine is superior to the single vaccines.

"This is a view supported by every major country in the world and a host of medical authorities."

Meanwhile, a north London health authority, Haringey & Enfield, is to probe claims that a GP removed a child's name from his patient list because the parents refused the MMR jab. The child's mother said she was told the doctor had to reach the Government target for immunisation.

Cramlington mother Debbie Cole, 39, has raised enough support to bring a London health firm to the North East to inoculate children against the diseases at &#xA3;80 per jab later this month.